Ebony L. Haynes and Cauleen Smith in Conversation

Excerpt:

Ebony L. Haynes 

I wanted to speak with you about making our album together, making the band, and I want to note for anyone reading this that I've always wanted to do a show with you. A while ago I had an opportunity to include a film of yours in a screening program, but that was just the tip of the iceberg. Once I had a space like this, you were on the early list of invitees for a reason. I knew your work would just transform everything here. I was surprised, though, when I first approached you about making a show and you said “I want to make an album”. I was like, Oh boy, okay. 

Cauleen Smith 

[Laughs].

EH 

Why in the moment, if you can recall, was that your answer?

CS 

You know, it had been on my mind because I'd been living in L.A. for four or five years, reading Wanda's poetry, noticing this blues idiom pop up in her language, trying to find out if she ever sang them. So there was Wanda hovering with me all the time. And when the opportunity came to speak with you, someone who I've admired from afar, I felt like a gauntlet was being thrown and I didn't want to blow it, but I also didn't know if I had the capacity to do a show in the time that we had to do it. So I thought, if I'm going to do something, it's got to be something that I actually really want to do, something that I couldn't do any other way, and also something that could only happen in this place. And that’s what inspired the idea of Wanda Coleman and making a record that responds to her work. This was the most high-stakes thing that I would give anything to do and that I don't feel like I could do anywhere else or with anyone else.

Buy The Book