To order a print and donate, please email @ gregorysipp1@comcast.net
I made this mosaic to honor the memory of Robert Brown. Bob, as many people called him, passed away last year. There were many things that linked Bob and I together, I’m going to write about one of them, listening to live jazz music. Bob and I, and our spouses along with our other friends would often go to the Detroit Jazz Festival.
The Jazz Festival is a four day event that occurred during Labor day weekend. It is one of the great festivals in America. We would sometimes spend the night in Detroit so we could attend the late night jam sessions and be ready for the next days events. Also, Ann Arbor has great jazz events at several venues, The Power Center, the Michigan Theater, Hill Auditorium, The Blue Llama , Kerrytown Concert House, the old Bird of Paradise, and others that we also attended.
Bob enjoyed the music of John Coltrane. If you listen to Coltrane’s music it will elevate you. I feel his music has a spiritual and healing aspect. Coltrane’s tunes A Love Supreme, and Spiritual is a case in point. In this mosaic Coltrane is playing the soprano saxophone. He played multiple instruments, but the two he played most was the tenor and soprano sax. The name of this mosaic is Afro Blue after one of Coltrane’s tune’s that he was playing the soprano sax.
There are many things I could say about my friend Bob Brown. He was an excellent high school teacher, that some of my children had as a teacher, he was a legendary high school baseball coach, he was very involved in the Ann Arbor community, he was a great husband, father, and grandfather, and a friend to many people, Bob always carried himself with poise and dignity. Rest in everlasting peace my friend.
In his honor, I am selling prints of this mosaic. I will be donating the profits to the African American Cultural and History Museum located in Ann Arbor MI one my and Bob’s favorite institutions. I will be providing more information about that in another post.