Hello and welcome to 251, two pianists, five minutes, one subject. And our subject today is the jazz paintings of Basquiat. My name is Simon Whiteside. And my name is Nick Tomlin and this is 251.

251. As well as doing sort of more like paintings as well. In 1980, he participated in the Times Square show, Multi-Artist Extubition, I think which was really where he got his big break and was noticed by various critics.

And that's really where his fame began to grow. So really from the early 80s. He sold his first painting in 1981 to Debbie Harry. And I think he actually went out with Debbie Harry for a while.

I'm not 100% sure of that, but I think they were an item at one point. Maybe you should ring her up and ask her. Could do, yeah. I'll leave that to you, Simon.

And although he's kind of often linked to the hip-hop culture, and a lot of his paintings have been used or imagery have been used by hip-hop, in actual fact he was more influenced by jazz in a way. And in fact he once said,

I wanted to be a jazz musician but I couldn't play anything. So I became an artist and my painting became my music. And I actually went to see an exhibition of his at the Barbican. Must be.

About 10 years ago or even more. And there was a whole section of his jazz paintings. And I mean I really love them. I think they're great.

He was very influenced by the bebop innovators. One of his most famous works, The Horn Players, features Parker and Gillespie. Along with... So his paintings always have this text and these kind of abstract symbols

which had kind of some sort of significance for him. Like the crown is probably one of the most famous ones. You see it used. Basically, you know, it's just a kind of hand drawn crown.

And his paintings always have these, I guess, really from the graffiti culture really. You know, it's like iconography. Yeah. They have a very graffiti-ish look, don't they, his paintings?

Yeah, they do. Free and bold. Yeah. And apparently he used to listen to jazz while he painted.

And he recalls his father playing jazz around the house while he would sit and draw. So while he was sitting, little Basquiat drawing his stuff with crayons. Apparently his dad would play jazz.

So I think there's definitely something, like you say, the sort of spontaneity and the freedom of jazz. I think that's partly what he was trying to capture. But also, obviously, he was very interested in black culture.

And a lot of his paintings reference black culture more generally. You know, so that's obviously where the jazz interest sort of comes in as well.

Now, coincidentally, and it actually happened last night, I use the Calm app, which is meditation and sleep stories and things. And there is a really good sleep story narrated by Don Cheadle, which is fundamentally about the Harlem Renaissance.

But it's sort of been fictionalized. And the person who he's sort of talking about, the fictional character he's talking about, is a painter who moves to Harlem.

From somewhere like Georgia, I think. And meets a photographer and starts hanging out in here in Count Basie and all those sorts of people, Chick Webb.

But if anyone has the Calm app, I recommend listening to it. It's really, A, nice and obviously relaxing, but a good, it's a good portrait of that period. And it sort of ties in with this jazz and art thing, because he's listening to jazz while

painting and trying to get, he talks about making, going to a rent party and things that we've talked about on another episode and sort of trying to sketch the people. And I think Basquiat fits into that, trying to get there, do it in a different way, the life, it's not a photograph.

Yeah, it's kind of an updated version in a way of that. I mean, unfortunately, he died very young and his life was kind of a bit marred with drugs and alcohol. But he's a tremendous talent and really worth checking out his jazz,

his jazz paintings. So my name's Nick Tomalin. Goodbye. My name's Simon Whiteside. Goodbye.

Just a little reminder that you can find us on social media, on Instagram, we're 2-5-1, you can search for that and we'll come up. We're also on Facebook under the same name and we have a group there where you can leave messages. And very importantly, that you can, it'd be great if you joined our On Podium website,

which gives us a bit more of a presence if you, there's no cost. And you just put in your name and address and then you're signed up. But also we've been listed, haven't we, Nick? Yes, on the Feedspot website,

we've been listed as one of the top ten jazz piano podcasts. I think we're number three at the moment. Woohoo! So, yeah, that's Feedspot.com basically.

Check them out and we'll put it in the show notes. Thanks for listening. Thank you. Goodbye.