Editor’s Note

Entering the studio of Annapolis abstract expressionist Esther Levy, I was often greeted by tape recordings of the legendary bands of Ellington, Armstrong or Basie swinging as only they could. A celestial solo by Rabbit, Pops, or Prez was enough to inspire Esther’s artistry. An Annapolis gallery once featured an entire show of her jazz-influenced paintings.

So it’s not surprising to find San Francisco’s bassist//poett Jayd DeWald musing in an iconic post-bop trumpeter in “Freddie Hubbard at Yoshi’s Jazz Club and Japanese Restaurant” in this issue of Free State Review. Hubbard once shared stages and recording studios with the likes off Trane Herbie Hancock and Ornette Coleman, among others. Later in life he injured his lip, resisted treatment and invited the infection that substantially ended his dazzling career. He died not broke but certainly a broken man.

Elsewhere within these pages, Kansan Karly Little r eveals a much different role music played during the early years in the touching memoir, “Love Stories and Vinyl,” and Edward Field masters the intersection of poetry and politics wth his apocalyptic vision of where the nation is heading. Still oing strong at the age of 89, Field’s singular eloquence is such that whether or not one agrees with his message the power of his expression is undeniable.

Finally, FSR editors welcome aboard my onetime colleague and long-time friend, Robert Timberg, as an associate editor specializing in non-fiction. A reporter’s reporter during his days covering the White House for the Baltimore Sun, Bob’s 1994 opus, The Nightingale’s Song, shone a thoughtful light on the Vietnam war and its aftermath through penetrating portraits of high-profile participants. Bob’s personal memoir, Blue-Eyed Boy, is scheduled for publication in 2014 by Penguin Press. His editing skills were honed in the Washington Bureau of the Sun, where he served as the assistant bureau chief, and later as the editor of the Naval Institute’s Proceedings. There is no one I respect more as a reporter, as an editor, as a patriot, and a friend, and there is no way I could exaggerate my joy in having our editorial staff augmented by his wisdom and judgment.

H.N. Burdett
Editor-in-Chief