Malcolm's birthday is today, don't forget . . .

My Ace Of Spades


MALCOLM X SPOKE TO ME and sounded you
Malcolm X said this to me & THEN TOLD you that!
Malcolm X whispered in my ears but SCREAMED on you!
Malcolm X praised me & thus condemned you
Malcolm X smiled at me & sneered at you
Malcolm X made me proud & so you got scared
Malcolm X told me to HURRY & you began to worry
Malcolm X sang to me but GROWLED AT YOU! !
Malcolm X words freed me & they frightened you
Malcolm X tol' it lak it DAMN SHO' IS! !
Malcolm X said that everybody would will be FREE ! !
Malcolm X told both of us the T R U T H . . . . . . .
now didn't he?



by Ted Joans

The Art of the Quote

The use of incisive wit to supply commentary, either damaging or exalted, within jazz improvisation, often takes the form of a "quote." The use of this aesthetic device, often drawing from a popular tune or another artists recorded solo, was well established before the Bebop era but found its most flamboyant use perhaps there. Free jazz artists as well often adorned their improvisations with quotes of one kind or another, often further recasting the role of the soloist as a kind of priest figure, leading the congregation and chorus in ritual. A quote could be obvious in its humor, such as Dizzy Gillespie's in the opening choruses of the original recording of Anthropology, "We're in the money . . " Or far more sly and inside, such as the exchange of phrases by Sonny Rollins and Miles Davis on Paper Moon, each quoting from Lester Young's solo on the same song from 1946. That solo in fact, doubtlessly one of Lester's best, has Prez quoting from, Fly Me to the Moon! Quotes have often been used in the architecture of a given composition as well. Two masters of this technique were, of course, Charles Mingus and Duke Ellington. The quote, as such, provokes memory, thus a time and place not of this time. As improvisation is an art of the now the provocation allows the soloist yet another field of play in which to arouse our feelings. For those interested in finding an easily discernible example of this type of playfulness in jazz, this "serious fun," I highly recommend the following experiment. On the well known and widely available original recording of Now's the Time by Charlie Parker on Savoy, 1945, Miles Davis begins his solo weaving out of Bird's own with his usual understated lyricism on the Blues. Over a decade later Miles was leading his own band, one many consider his greatest, recording Monk's Straight, No Chaser for the album Milestones on Columbia. A bit past half way through his solo on this angular Blues, pianist Red Garland begins quoting Miles' 1945 solo, substituting block chords for Miles' single notes! The effect is delightful and intriguing, not just because of the inventiveness of Red Garland but because of the scope of history that comes into play. Suddenly illuminated is the arc between these two extremely important sessions and the special meaning the Blues, and most particularly Bird's, in the lives of these men. Listen on!

Celebrating the Duke!

The Cotton Club


Look at Duke!
He stays up and up.

Stays up in the music.
Up where the music reaches.

Up through the waves of music.
His waves slicked back.

Duke's staying up all night
so long that time stays up with him.

But you can see the afternoon
in his eyes. Yellow sunlight going down.

And he sleeps late. Slow at Home.
Remembering Jungle Nights.

Sailing on the wide wings
of a Blue Bird, sailing light.

And somebody's always saying
Hold it, Duke,

I wanna take your picture,
and they can't even see him.




by Clarence Major

Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus

The most powerful number in voodoo? 22. Mingus? Born on the 22nd of April! In 1922! Coincidence? Of course not. Like jazz music, it's attendant culture and vicissitudes, voodoo is a hybrid of West African and Western European aesthetics, religion and philosophy. Mingus' music, perhaps more so than any other composer in jazz, is an expression of this fertile cross-pollination of spiritual practice with the rituals of daily life. Mingus' music came from life and, many would say, was life itself. One of the most naked and emotional figures in jazz, Mingus was a man of tremendous passions, loves, hates, loves, sorrows and triumphs. His music delved into and radically explored almost every aspect of human existence. Candid, outspoken and blunt beyond comparison, Mingus' musical personality was much like his own. He could also, and often did, create musical expressions of such awesome gentleness and subtle feeling that one could be easily lead to tears of tragic ecstasy. As a composer he drew from the full panorama of the Western European canon as well as the blues, spirituals and folk music of all stripes to create his jazz. An innovator of the highest order Mingus furthered Ellington's experiments with the tone poem to create some of the most vital and influential works in jazz, such as Pithecanthropus Erectus & the devastating Meditations for a Pair of Wirecutters (Praying with Eric.) Mingus also pioneered in the use of "atomspherics" and the use of "little instruments" for extra-musical effect, such as in Scenes in the City and A Foggy Day(In San Francisco.) Long before the evolution of the term, Mingus was often writing passages into his compositions for his musicians to play "free." While many have long considered Tijuana Moods as the definitive Mingus album, he was quoted as saying it was his best to date (1957), I would say The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady is closer. Though, if we are honest, there is, and could never be, a definitive Mingus album. He was far too prolific and far, far too complex. Here are my top five;

1. The Black Saint & The Sinner Lady
2. Tijuana Moods
3. Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus
4. Town Hall Concert (1964)
5. East Coasting

For Miles by Gregory Corso

For Miles


Your sound is faultless
pure & round
holy
almost profound

Your sound is your sound
true & from within
a confession
soulful & lovely

Poet whose sound is played
lost or recorded
but heard
can you recall that 54 night at the Open Door
when you & bird
wailed five in the morning some wondrous
yet unimaginable score?



by Gregory Corso

Bomkauf Lives!

I AM A CAMERA


THE POET NAILED ON
THE HARD BONE OF THIS WORLD,
HIS SOUL DEDICATED TO SILENCE
IS A FISH WITH FROG'S EYES,
THE BLOOD OF A POET FLOWS
OUT WITH HIS POEMS, BACK
TO THE PYRAMID OF BONES
FROM WHICH HE IS THRUST
HIS DEATH IS A SAVING GRACE

CREATION IS PERFECT


by Bob Kaufman

Born this day, April 18, 1925, New Orleans Louisiana

Our Lady

Today we honor the birth of one of the greatest storytellers the world has ever known, the great Lady Day, Miss Billie Holiday. Why one of the world's greatest storytellers? It would be enough that she is universally recognized as the most influential singer in jazz. But in recognizing Billie Holiday, we also recognize the depth, and power, of her emotional authority, and undeniable sense of reality. Those qualities, along with her intense swing, and lyrical embrace of even the most "common" material, rank her among the greatest in the arts of telling a story. And, damn sure telling it like it is. Here is a poem about Billie written by Jayne Cortez;


Billie

Everyone snatched
a piece of her gardenia
to wear in cut flesh
of their gloomy Sunday
Everyone looked
for detours
had premonitions
& forgot
what a little moonlight could do
to a woman standing on
the outside of her body
singing to
the body inside of a song about lynching
Everyone knew about transported spirits
random rooster combs
& the lover man sanctifying in her solitude
But no one wanted to touch
that low fired instantaneous friction sitting
on the inside of outside when she sang
"strange fruit hanging on a poplar tree"


from, The Beautiful Book by Jayne Cortez, Bola Press, New York, 2007