“His voice is rich and expressive, his best songs are perceptive poetic tales of devotion, trust, hope, harmony and spirituality. Three dimensional parables of love lost and love found and relationships filled with the promise of a new day.” –Jon Lucien.com

Suddenly there

was your voice

swirling dipping scatting

zooming and crooning

like a moonbright kite

of naked lightning

free yet attached

to the atomic chord

of your marvelous soul.

In the footprints

of your musical journey

the honey of legend

accumulates light

attracts disciples

articulates your name

and purpose:

“Jon––Jon Lucien,

servant of love’s command.”

You sang,

and lovers sighed

“Amen!”

You sang,

and sinners cried

“Thank goodness you came!”

You arose,

and the dawn whispered

“Come, my son, shine with me.”

The very best of singers seem to do something more than propel our hips onto the dance floor or help us execute sweetly sensuous liaisons. They apparently possess a gift not only for entertaining but for making a kind of musical magic that suspends time and expands space, creating a haven of healing wonder in which the listener can dwell and revel in passionate beauty or joyful peace. That was the kind of magic I experienced the first time I heard the Virgin Islands-born singer Jon Lucien, who was born January 8, 1942, and passed on August 18, 2007.

Strangely enough, one reason Lucien’s voice and style literally stood out for me was because it was part of a fantastic compilation put together by the bandleader, percussionist, and DJ known as Snowboy. Lucien’s contribution to the project was “A Time for Me to Fly.” His rich baritone singing unabashedly of romantic tension left me stunned with its display of dramatic flare and explosive jazz improvisation. I immediately began the hunt for a full cd of his work.

I found two good ones, his 1999 releases, “Sweet Control, The Best of Jon Lucien,” and “By Request.” As I listened to this amazing troubadour of minds and hearts devoted to the principles of love and spiritual awareness, each song cast a spell more powerful than the last. In reading whatever I could find about him, I learned most considered him a powerful jazz balladeer and forerunner of what we now call smooth jazz and fusion. These he was without question, but as I listened further to songs like “The War Song,” “Motherland,” and “Mother Nature’s Son,” I realized he was also a singer with a profound social and mystical consciousness.

How was it he had been making music since I was two years old, I wondered, and yet I had not heard of him until fully an adult? Then I understood.

As an artist, Lucien was an original talent, the kind that draws on raw creative elements and inherited cultural traditions to forge powerful musical vision. We call such individuals a singer’s singer, or a painter’s painter, or a poet’s poet. They generally do not fit easily into commercial niches and for that reason don’t always enjoy “breakthrough” or “crossover” success. That meant various radio stations were not likely to play his music even while thousands of fans began to flock to his concerts because they couldn’t get enough of his incandescent voice or his mesmerizing spirit. I never made it to the concerts but I will always be grateful that I made the discovery of the man and his music.

By Aberjhani Celebrating Jon Lucien

© 8/25/2007