The Wisdom of Sekou Sundiata

The performance poet, Sekou Sundiata died on July 18, 2007. I first learned of his work through the Bill Moyers series The Language of Life that I have previously mentioned on this blog and I became quite taken by his poetry and performance presence.

Sundiata performed most of his poetry to a jazz backdrop and the combination of his words and the progressive music was magical. He remarked in the Language of Life segment that featured him about “how important it is for each jazz instrumentalist to develop his or her own sound. And it is only when that occurs that the jazz ensemble really cooks. I think there is something to be learned from this viewpoint that applies to any “ensemble that has to work together.

The teams that I have observed that truly reach the level of a high performing team find a way to come together so that each person’s individual voice remains strong while blending with the other members of the team. When both the strength of the individual joins forces with the power of a team, then really amazing results get accomplished.