Jack DeJohnette: Drummer, Pianist, Griot and Jedi in The Fifth World

Jack DeJohnette: Drummer, Pianist, Griot and Jedi in The Fifth World 

by Raul Da Gama

Fires burning in a pow-wow circle of elders - Jack DeJohnette is probably the youngest of the musician-elders. Grandmother Twylah Nitsch of the Seneca First Nation begins by saying, “Truth becomes our byword.” Jack picks up where Grandmother Twylah leaves off. His notes during this session – Jack DeJohnette: Music for The Fifth World (Manhattan/Somethin’ Else Records, 1992) tell us: “Music is energy, and I feel we need the kind of energy that this recording evokes to create the changes needed to heal ourselves and our environment.”

This gives us an insight into what is probably Jack’s most enduring legacy as a musician and his palimpsest. Then, spinning the disc, we listen to the “Fifth World Anthem”, and immediately we enter the drum circle. Discerning the aroma of sage may not be as axiomatic as it seems. Jack is one of a Dohiyi circle of elders, including fellow drummer Will Callhoun. They (Jack and Will) also play Taos ceremonial drums on the track with Robert Rosario and Dennis Yerry.

Now Jack is singing. Together with the women of the group, they sing and chant (in Seneca), “We’re in the Fifth World that’s ever changing / So make your move this whole world’s rearranging / No need for greed and further separation / We’re in the Fifth World that’s ever-changing / So make your move this world’s rearranging /Make up your mind don’t be stuck in doubt / Come back to truth now it's time to shout it out.” These are English translations of the Seneca lyrics and sound infinitely more affecting on record than they do on paper.

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