the clear air

New York Story II: The Subway by Rose Y. Adams, August 6, 2011

Every time I would go to New York, even for a vacation, I would do something: photograph someone interesting or arrange an interview. This time my mom, who was already in New York for business, invited me to meet her. So after work, I caught a red eye. It seemed like I arrived about 7AM the next day. I don’t remember why. Maybe I had a layover somewhere. Isn’t the flight NYC just three hours? After arriving at LaGuardia, I caught one of airport shuttles and rode to my hotel on the West side of Manhattan. The hotel was situated in what is known as Koreatown, not too far from Macy and Penn Station. I believe the hotel was on West 32nd Street.

Now before I left Houston, the name Illinois Jacquet popped into my mind. I wanted to meet him during my stay. So, I asked the son of a well-known jazz musician if he knew Mr. Jacquet. He said, “No, I am sure dad does.” His father was Conrad O. Johnson, a longtime jazz musician and former director of the Kashmere Stage Band. Back in the 70s the Kashmere was the best band in Houston because Mr. Johnson taught the students and treated them as professionals. They toured the world and brought notoriety to the city and even made an album, which was unheard of back in the day. Mr. Johnson could have been one of the greatest jazz artists of all time but chose instead to teach and provide a stable environment for his family. Anyway, I called him and told him who I was. He gave me the number of Mr. George Haynes, who was a musician himself but also the former principal of Kashmere HS. I remember him being so very kind. I told him what I wanted and without hesitation, he gave me Mr. Jacquet’s phone number. I waited until I got to New York before calling.

As soon as I got into the hotel room, I called for Mr. Jacquet’s home. A woman answered the phone and I introduced myself and told her what I wanted. She asked me a series of questions. Who was I. Who did I know and told me to call back at a particular time. I did and she put Mr. Jacquet on the phone. He told me to come to his house the next day at 3PM and his lady friend would tell me how to get there on the subway. The lady returned on the phone, found out my location and gave me directions to their home, located in Jamaica Queens also known as St. Albans, New York. She said she would wait for me at the station in St. Albans.

One of my mom’s friends (who was also in New York on business) advised me that since it was my first subway ride, pull up my jacket and look mean and crazy and don’t speak to anyone because of my very pronounced Texas/Mid-Western accent. She said that people would immediately know that I wasn’t from there.

So, the next day, I packed my camera equipment in a very nondescript backpack and dressed very causal, no real jewelry, jeans and tennis shoes and a canvas jacket and my hair pulled back into a ponytail and hit the pavement. As I walked down the street toward the subway station, an Asian guy walked toward me. He didn’t say a word but handed me something. I took it and continued walking. I looked at it and it was the size of a business card, a compact mirror on the flip side of it was the following: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. -Isaiah 41:10,” followed by the name of a Korean Christian organization name or church. I remember thinking that it was very odd for a Korean guy to hand me something Christian. However, I put the mirror in my pocket and walked to the subway station. I arrived at the St. Albans station maybe 30 minutes later. There were no other people there, just a little gold Honda Civic, just like mine at home. In it was a white lady with white hair. She was maybe in her late 60s. When she saw me she got out of the car and introduced herself, saying her name. She drove me around the neighborhood before actually arriving at the house she shared with Mr. Jacquet. On the way there named and pointed out the homes of famous black people who lived had lived in the neighborhood: Lena Horne, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, and Babe Ruth. I thought, “Babe Ruth was black?” She didn’t actually say that but inferred it. We arrived at their house, a very nice house, very clean and orderly. I walked in and Mr. Jacquet (then in his late seventies or early eighties) was seated in a chair, very relaxed. You could tell that he was very well taken care of. The first thing he said to me was, “Do you know why you are here?” I said, “No.” He said, “You are here because of my love for Conrad Johnson.”

Mr. Jacquet’s real name was Jean-Baptiste Jacquet. He was not from Illinois but from Broussard, Louisiana. He and Mr. Johnson had gone to Jack Yates High School in Houston together. He played with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, Milt Larkin, Charles Mingus. He appeared as a musician in the movie “Stormy Weather” with Lena Horne as well as a few other movies in the thirties. I was really in awe of what he had to say and very honored and humble to be there. He was very good friends with Ella Fitzgerald and still grieved her passing, even though it had been for a number of years. There was a huge painting of her in his house. I literally sat at his feet for hours as he shared his life story and dropped all kinds of knowledge. He talked about how he and Ella Fitzgerald and Dizzy Gillespie helped to integrate a performance hall in Houston by refusing to play to a segregated audience. I think they were all arrested. Then I began photographing him. I remember him saying, “I didn’t let “Time” magazine shoot these many pictures of me. His companion later interrupted us for dinner, vegetarian one that she prepared. It was at dinner he began to ask me about my life. As we ate, he gave me advice about my boyfriend at the time and advised me to drop him based on what I told him about the guy (which I did upon my return to Houston). He looked at my portfolio. and said, “Daughter, you really have what it takes; but it is really up to you. Also, lose a little weight (I didn’t do that).” All of his words still ring in my ears all these years later. After dinner, he summoned his companion to get his horn and the two them performed a duet for me. Mr. Jacquet’s companion played the piano. It was so beautiful. He told me that she was really a great and gifted musician but didn’t pursue her own music career and maybe it was due to her lack of confidence. They told me the music they were playing was by Art Tatum. Mr. Jacquet taught a Harvard and played with President Clinton before his death in 2004. The last time I spoke to Mr. Jacquet’s companion was to tell her about “Thundersoul,” the documentary about Mr. Johnson and his work at Kashmere.

Back at Mr. Jacquet’s house, by then it had gotten really late. I’d been there for hours. Mr. Jacquet called my mother and told her that I was on my way back to Manhattan. They spoke a little Creole once he found out she was from Lafayette, Louisiana. While on the subway to Manhattan, a very dark man entered the car I was seated in. I sat in one of those seats that faced the door. He sat opposite of me. He was handsome, black hair, thick black eyebrows and dressed nicely but in all black pants, black shoes, black t-shirt, black pants and a black leather jacket. He spoke. I said “hi.” I really shouldn’t have. The guy looked at me and I looked back into his eyes and there was something not quite right. I could put my finger on it. He asked me, “What is in that backpack?” My camera equipment was in there, then worth about $4000 dollars, plus all of the film I’d shot of Mr. Jacquet.” I answered, “Oh, just books” and I got up and moved to another car. He followed me. We sat in the same position as in the previous car. I realized that I really had a situation and no weapon, not even car keys. I remained calm and but analyzed my situation. The train was making various stops. Then at one the stops, three Puerto Rican teenage girls got on the train. They were all bubbly and excited about going out. Two of them sat in the seat nearest to the man. One sat in the seat behind the other two. She pulled out a tube of lipstick and yelled to me. “Hey.” I looked but I had refocused my attention on the man in black. So, she yelled at me again, “Hey.” I looked at her and she said, “You’ve got a mirror.” She didn’t say, “Do you have a mirror?” “She distinctly said, “You’ve got a mirror.” I said, “Oh yeah.” I reached in my pocket and pulled out mirror that the Korean man had given me earlier that day. I looked at it and read the bible verse on the reverse side again: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.-Isaiah 41:10.“ It was then knew I was protected. I threw the mirror across the car to the girl and she caught it and said thanks. She used it to apply her lipstick and then threw it back to me. Then all three girls stared at me. Something told me, do not get off that your stop, which would have been West 34th Street, near Macys. My rationale was that I didn’t want the guy to follow me back to my hotel. So I when the train passed my stop, I prepared and got off at the next one. Sure enough the man followed me.

There was a ceiling high cage-like station exit turnstile. Just as I was about to reach for it, it spun around in the opposite direction really fast. I backed up a bit. Then out walked a very tall New York police officer. He was dressed in a very formal police uniform, kind of dated. He had a button down coat with shiny silver buttons. He just stood there, not saying a word. The man in black was following me until he saw the police officer emerge from the turnstile. I looked back at him. He froze dead in his tracks and then hurriedly walked off to the left. I exited the station and walk back to my hotel. It was a cool pleasant night and the air was ever so clear.

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”- Isaiah 41:10.