Born in Natchez, Mississippi, the cornetist Olu Dara was a prominent member of the New York avante-garde jazz scene in the 1970s, and he's done many other things besides. For one, he's the father of the rapper Nas. (See them perform together in 2004on the very sweet father-son song "Bridging the Gap"; Dara also played cornet for the outro on"Life's a Bitch,"from Nas'Illmatic.) He's acted and written plays. He's collaborated with scores of musical acts—the Be Good Tanyas, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Henry Threadgill, Cassandra Wilson. And around the turn of the century Dara released two records of his own, both rowdy mixes of blues, jazz, country, and roots, among other styles: 1998'sIn the World: From Natchez to New Yorkand 2001'sNeighborhoods.
OnIn the World, Dara devotes a loose, joyful song to a longtime love:okra. In fact it's the album's first song. But that's perhaps unsurprising considering that Dara named one of his eclectic early bands the Okra Orchestra, which in 1985 theTimes describedas possibly "the best unrecorded band in New York City" on the occasion of a performance at the Prospect Park band shell. (Dara's other group, a concert band, was called the Natchezippi Band.) In 1998, a Bomb magazine interviewer brought up Dara'sobvious okra fandom, which Dara affirmed: "Crazy about it," he said.
And why not? Okra's a wonderful, tender vegetable that doesn't get its due often enough. It'sgreat roasted in a hot oven, it'sespecially good fried, it'sperfect pickled. It pairs well in the summer with fresh corn and tomatoes, and in the winter will provide a bright-green counterpoint inside a hearty stew. This weekend, put this chicken stew on the stove, put "Okra" on the stereo, and see if you aren't dancing around the kitchen soon enough.
