Bird's Ecstasy Part Two

And so it was then, the man and the message that rewired America and thus the world. The joy and the ferocious wonder of it all that surrounds. I could hear this now. Ah, Bird was an ecstatic! This really being the key revelation that opened up the musics many worlds. And quickly I began to understand that his improvisation was a much a response to the architecture of a given composition as it was, and perhaps more especially, the total environment. The man and his times, our times, times changing, those changes, too. And with this "serious fun," this humor that laughs to keep from lies, hews cries and sighs, always the buoyant and propulsive swing. And of course among the many musical personae projected from the bell of his horn came the masks retained of African ancestors. Indeed, the complex poly-rhythms which served as vehicles of his imaginative export were inherited directly through Africans in the New World. So Bird's joy was also one of memory and as it must be with us, "a memory that will not sleep." Once I began to hear this, just as suddenly, it was everywhere. Thousands of other musics, not all jazz, became enlivened with these insights. What it is, what it ain't, what it ought to be. Looking forward looking back, Now Is The Time.

Bird's Ecstasy Part One

For many years I listened to Bird without, I believe, really hearing him. Like a lot of us I began with the recordings on Dial. The Eastwood film had recently been released and there were a slew of reissues. Warner had put out a modest double record set including the full session that produced Yardbird Suite. Included was a booklet that reproduced a number of paintings for Bird. Among these were works by Romare Bearden, Larry Rivers and Raymond Saunders. I was intrigued and deeply moved by the inspiration the music had offered these artists. Still, it wasn't until a few years later that I had the glorious encounter that was, for me, hearing Bird for the first time. I remember it well. I had been living in Seattle for a only a few months when I happened upon a record store that stocked a wall of jazz vinyl. There under his leader card was the Savoy long player, Charlie Parker Memorial record. You know the one, with the introduction from Al Collins? I would gaze at the record each time I came in. There he was, The Bird, in Glen plaid and a bow tie, blowing above a teal blue background. In flight. Finally after a few more months of saving, I had enough to buy this scarce collectors item. Nothing could have prepared me for what I heard that day. A strange mercurial light seemed to emanate from his horn, illuminating the world around me in strange and beguiling ways. Koko!

Ted Joans, en route!

THE FULL PRICE TO PAY ( to get away )


turn the faucet of creation on
twist it too far to the left
makes miles of liquid monies
mesmerize the well known image
collect handshakes/congratulates/and bank connections
then flee from them to Mother Matta Grosso or Sister Sahara
let them of the past speak of your past
leave matters in the minds of myth makers
wave farewell/goodbyes/adieus forever
wink one wise gesture at your tribe and them alone
then hurriedly flee to Mother Matta Grosso or Sister Sahara
never to be touched/tormented/or toyed with again



by Ted Joans
from the book Afrodisia, 1970

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