Drummers band together
After loss, Blackwell calls on his friends
By Rebecca Ostriker, Globe Staff | December 10, 2004

In June, John Blackwell was flying. The funky, stick-twirling drummer for Prince's New Power Generation was dazzling audiences as part of the "Musicology" tour, which had been getting raves and selling out shows across the country. The band was in Chicago when the devastating news reached him: His 2-year-old daughter, Jia, had accidentally fallen into his family's swimming pool in California and was struggling to survive.

Friends rushed him to the airport as doctors tried to save her. But right before they got there, the hospital called. Sorry, they said. There was nothing more they could do.

"When you hear something like that about your loved one, especially your baby, it's like -- when I heard that, I was done," recalls a still-emotional Blackwell on the phone during a recent visit to Boston. "I was trying to jump from the car. The car is going 80 miles an hour, we were on the highway. I was really trying to just take myself out."

Blackwell was in anguish. "I never thought I could go on without her," he says. But he pulled himself together for the sake of his wife, Joann, and their baby boy, and returned home.

Days later, amid his grief, a plan suddenly came to him: He would start a scholarship in Jia's name for young women at Berklee College of Music, his alma mater, and launch it with a benefit concert of drummers.

"I was in one section of the house by myself, just crying and missing Jia so bad," he says. "Out of the clear blue, the idea popped into my head. I was just like, 'OK, I've got to do this for her.' Some kind of tribute to her, because she loved drums."

With "4 Ever in Our Hearts: A Tribute to Jia Kennie Blackwell," which takes place tomorrow night at the Berklee Performance Center, Blackwell has gathered an all-star lineup of drummers from the worlds of jazz, R&B, rock, and funk.

There's Grammy-nominated Terri Lyne Carrington, the former prodigy who became the house drummer on "The Arsenio Hall Show" and has played with artists from Cassandra Wilson to Wayne Shorter, Stan Getz, and Herbie Hancock. There's Dennis Chambers, the Parliament-Funkadelic powerhouse who steals shows with his solos on tour with Santana, and Jeff "Tain" Watts, who's brought his virtuosity to ensembles led by Branford Marsalis, McCoy Tyner, and Sonny Rollins.

Also coming are the soulful Marcus Williams, a drummer with Isaac Hayes and Oteil Burbridge, and Dom Famularo, who's played with the Buddy Rich Big Band, B.B. King, and Lionel Hampton. Finally there's Vinnie Colaiuta, whose versatility has meant making music with Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, Bryan Ferry, Sting, Barbra Streisand, Chick Corea -- even Olivia Newton John.

These drummers are not just big names to Blackwell. In a way, they're family. Carrington's aunt Elaine, for example, "was like another mother to me," Blackwell says, recalling the musical Carrington clan from the Boston area. "She stayed on my case as I was coming up, when I was going to Berklee, putting me in the right direction."

Chambers, he adds, "is like a big brother. He was Jia's godfather. I looked up to Dennis for a long time, and he always took time out to talk to me, so it's grown into a family thing now. And Marcus Williams, I've followed him around since I was 16 years old. He's like another brother as well."

Maybe it's not surprising that some of America's best drummers form a tight-knit community. "You may not hang out all the time, but you definitely have a camaraderie," explains Carrington by phone from Los Angeles. "When somebody plays your same instrument, you're dealing with the same issues."

Colaiuta, also in LA, agrees: "As much as there's a competitive atmosphere among musicians, drummers seem to band together," he says. "When push comes to shove in a situation like this, this is where we put everything aside and just say, 'Look, this is really what counts, this is important. It's really about the love.' "

The scholarship is one way, Blackwell says, to share his love for Jia and preserve her powerful spirit. When his daughter was alive, he explains, she liked to imitate her parents, helping out around the house whenever she could. If her baby brother was thirsty, for example, she'd find his bottle and run to give it to him.

"My wife saw her as someone who would grow up to help people who were not as fortunate as she was," he says. With the scholarship, "she will still be able to fulfill that vision."

But Blackwell needed a lot of help himself just to start playing again after his daughter's death. Prince had canceled several shows because of the tragedy and told Blackwell to take as much time as he needed before coming back. Blackwell was ready to call it quits for good, he says. But family and friends -- including Lenny Kravitz, Patti LaBelle, and Chaka Khan -- kept him going. "My dad told me, 'I don't think Jia would want you to sit around the house and mope and not pick those drumsticks back up,' " Blackwell recalls. " 'She loved to see you play, so you get back out there.' "

He decided to do one more show for Jia, the night before her funeral. Prince flew him to join the band in New Orleans at the Essence Music Festival, where 50,000 people were packed into the Superdome. The five-hour show was a 20th-anniversary celebration of "Purple Rain."

"That whole night, it was Sheila E., Chaka Khan, Morris Day and the Time, everybody was like, 'We're going to do this for Jia,' " Blackwell says, clearly moved by the memory. "My daughter used to love to sing and play drums. One of her favorite songs was 'Purple Rain.' That night when we did 'Purple Rain' at the end of the show, I was looking up and I could see her face. It was an angelic smile. And I see it all the time. Whenever I play, I see it all the time."

Damn, that article got to me. Till now, I hadn't heard or read any of John's words on losing Jia. I can't wait to pay my respects at the concert tomorrow night. I know I'm gonna be a mess. Definitely a waterproof mascara night.

Reading that makes me even more grateful than before that I'll be there to show my support on Saturday.

moving

jonylawson said:

Haha two orgers here will also be showing their love

Myself and another 3 org-ers will be there to show the love for this great man. See you all tonight for a very special and moving evening!!!

I'll be there..

Peace to Jia.
Don't give up the sticks. Emancipation lies in them. Play yr heart out.

The show was amazing and truly inspiring. Thanks to John and all who came out!