I continue to appreciate the team at Jerry Jazz Musician for celebrating America’s unique art form, and showcasing not only the sounds, but the words around the sounds. For my fellow old school jazz fans, check out their latest collection of poetry, here.
Here’s another one celebrating Mingus, and anyone who follows this blog knows The Mighty Charles Mingus is a well I return to often, and his music & life are a ceaseless font of inspiration. Check out the video, below, of this miraculous collective laying down some incendiary, healing improvisation. (More Mingus poems here, here, and here.)
The Charles Mingus Sextet in Europe, 1964
Another day at the office: six musicians assembled
so close together they’d almost fit inside the piano—
all dressed like they’re about to give away the bride.
Imagine if baseball teams had to wear the uniforms
businessmen did throughout the twentieth century:
coats buttoned up and their ties too tight at the neck,
a signal that serious work almost always gets done
when people are made as uncomfortable as possible;
the same kind of illogic that drives or else stymies
innovation and all things, except art. What if the game
itself was played in the dugout, pitches, hits, and catches
happening elbow-to-elbow as the sweat flowed, turning
improvisation into art on the fly, rules ignored and belief
bolstering a faith to convince skeptics we’re all immortal.
