A.J. Huffman's "Souvenirs of Music" and "Final Movement"

Photograph by John Spade

Tonight I'd like to welcome poet, editor, and publisher A.J. Huffman back to The Song Is...  Enjoy her concise, gem-like poems!

Souvenirs of Music

a trailing whisper

a ribbon of melody

the ancient rhythmic poundings

of a soul’s twilight mood

a moon’s spotlight

two sips of mellow wine

the heavenly breath of fire

flames giving way to the sky

Final Movement

            after Moonlight Sonata by Vladimir Kush

Constellations crawl like cosmic cockroaches

across an empty sky.  My mind reads their trails

as music, moves to the backward rhythm

of their percussionless drum.  I am the only stick

in this particular beating.  I echo in pulses, losing light

years in the reflection of a blink.  This world has shed

me like a tear, crystal and liquid, but unnecessary as air.

---------------------------------------

A.J. Huffman has published thirteen full-length poetry collections, fourteen solo poetry chapbooks and one joint poetry chapbook through various small presses.  Her most recent releases, Degeneration (Pink Girl Ink), A Bizarre Burning of Bees (Transcendent Zero Press), and Familiar Illusions (Flutter Press) are now available from their respective publishers.  She is a five-time Pushcart Prize nominee, a two-time Best of Net nominee, and has published over 2500 poems in various national and international journals, including Labletter, The James Dickey Review, The Bookends Review, Bone Orchard, Corvus Review, EgoPHobia, and Kritya.  She is also the founding editor of Kind of a Hurricane Press.  www.kindofahurricanepress.com.

As it turns out, Mr. Kush is a painter, not a composer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1f9stpbCmJ4

Here is the first movement of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" for those of you who were expecting this piece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT7_IZPHHb0

Let's also include a version of Debussy's "Clair de Lune": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LlvUepMa31o

I'll finish with two more pieces.  The first is Marcus Miller's version of "Moonlight Sonata":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lto9LAUd8HI

The second is Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong's "Moonlight in Vermont":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esynsha53A8

Collaborations

This evening I would like to post some collaborations that Angelee Deodhar has sent me.  "Guru Purnima 2016" is a poem that she and Neena Singh wrote over the internet in two hours!  I never would have guessed....

By the way, click on the images to enlarge them and make them readable!

Guru Purnima 2016

A Collaborative Poem between Neena Singh and Angelee Deodhar

Tonight the full moon
scatters petals of light
golden strains of music float
remembered from the past...

I remember the Guru
who showed me where to look
not what to see, held a brush
as he ground ink for me…

he walked beside me unseen
a lamp held high till
the scent of jasmine
resonated in my soul

stumbling over rocks
through muddy streams I went
tasting the wild waters
and fruit I didn’t know

the ineffable wonder of life
the sacred mystery unveiled
I bow to the Guru,who reflects
the moon in me tonight.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guru_Purnima

 Note: Guru Purnima is an Indian and Nepalese festival dedicated to spiritual and academic teachers. This festival is traditionally celebrated by Hindus, Jains and Buddhists, to pay their respects to their teachers and express their gratitude. The festival is celebrated on the full moon day (Purnima) in the Hindu month July. This year it was on 19th of July.

I am going to do something a little different with the music as Angelee has sent me a number of pieces to accompany the writing.

Let's start with Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata."  The pianist is Arthur Rubinstein.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNVBaKQgfyU

UK soul singer Diane Shaw performs "Blue Moon": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPYpu1uM3zU

Neena Singh, a former banker now runs a non-profit for education and health of underprivileged children. The creator of ‘soul2soul’, a well-loved group on Facebook, committed to spreading peace, goodwill and light through theme-based discussions among members. She has received awards for her contribution in banking, management and social work. Her book "Whispers of the Soul - The Journey Within" is available on Amazon.

Neena lives with her husband, Prithpal and her golden lab, Rumi, in Chandigarh, India.

"Half the Sea, Half the Sky" is a collaboration with Paresh Tiwari.

Half the Sea, Half the Sky

(A Collaborative poem between Paresh Tiwari and Angelee Deodhar)

In that mirror of Erised

I see this world and that

un-granted wishes, vanished loves

Diablo slithering sinuously

and when the night sky

closes its fist around my breath,

squeezing the ebb of life …gently

you turn your face towards me

to look into the depths of my soul

owl bright eyes search through

the subterranean shadows

of your honey sweet lies, while

the wind whips up a Great Wave

off Kanagawa …

From time to time, we have lost

one another in this ocean’s roar

but then our boat changes tack

and we patch the shreds

of its sail with moonlight.

Bio: Paresh Tiwari, is a poet, writer and illustrator currently residing in Mumbai, India. His haiku, haibun, tanka, haiga, poems, and fiction appear frequently in noteworthy journals and anthologies across the world. An Inch of Sky, his collected haiku and haibun, has been published by 20 Notebooks Press and is available online.

Bio: Angelee Deodhar, an eye surgeon by profession as well as a haiku poet, translator, and artist, lives and works in Chandigarh, India.  She has edited both Journeys and Journeys 2015, two anthologies of International Haibun, and is now working on Journeys 2016, the third anthology of haibun from around the world.

Here is Mendelssohn's "Fingal's Cave: The Hebrides Overture":  

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iek4OcrT6m0

You may also enjoy Grace Mary Williams' "Sea Sketches":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRU7zHQMW8A

Angelee has also collaborated with Mary Jo Balistreri, another poet whose works have appeared here frequently.

A Collaborative poem between  Mary Jo Balistreri (USA)

                                                and Angelee Deodhar (India)

Morning Raga

Early this morning

the sun kindled frost

transforms vast fields

into silver-tipped etchings

knee deep in ground fog

 the widow makers’ silhouettes

 change and  shape shift

 in last night’s rain

a jay dips sapphire wings

a fox stands small and silent

fog lifts like breath from the land

in the distance temple bells

egrets follow the bent backs

as rice planter’s songs ripple

in fractals of green and gold

in the distance a koel calls

  the  fox listens . so does she

 to these resonant melodies

a window opens to the breeze

 as she enjoys jasmine tea

jungle babblers awaken now

squirrels scold, chase the crows

and in the escalating din

somewhere a morning raga begins.

Note :A raga is a word derived from Sanskrit word is one of the melodic modes used in Indian classical music and means an act of coloring or dyeing  and therefore metaphorically means 'any feeling or passion especially love, affection, sympathy, desire, interest, motivation, joy, or delight.'
Image credit https://in.pinterest.com/pin/187743878193201887/ Indian Bird Miniature Art Handmade Old Stamp Paper Nature Ornithology Painting

Mughal painting is a particular style of South Asian painting, generally confined to miniatures either as book illustrations or as single works to be kept in albums, which emerged from Persian miniature painting, with Indian Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist influences, and developed largely in the court of the Mughal Empire  

Here is Pt. Vishwa Mohan Bhatt's raga "Megh Malhar": 

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x14rwpy_raag-megh-malhar-guitar-pt-vishwa-mohan-bhatt-indian-classical-instrumental-lure-of-desert_music

Vladmir Horowitz plays Chopin's "Raindrop" Prelude in D major: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_6APTb3RNQ

Next is Sanjay Deodhar and Angelee Deodhar's collaboration.  Sanjay is her nephew.

Chomolungma

A Collaborative Haibun by Sanjay Deodhar and Angelee Deodhar

“Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.” Chaim Potok

We met our porters at the airport and after picking up baggage, our group immediately set off on our trek to the first destination. After lunch at one of the tea houses and a four hour trek we reached Phakding, while enjoying the superb views of Kusum Kangru peak.

The ‘tea houses’ on trekking routes in Nepal,are essentially lodges or hotels along the trek route with rooms for board and lodging. Run by Sherpas and their families, who have shifted from being porters and guides, to running hotels which have Wifi, mobile charging points, hot showers, all available at a reasonable rate . All these ‘tea houses’ have large French windows in their dining rooms for clear views and a fine variety of eating options ,where one can write one’s journal ,check out maps, exchange experiences with other trekkers, while feeling the warmth of the thoughtfully placed wood fired alcoves.

Everest Base Camp-

below snapping prayer flags

graffiti on rocks

Note: Tibetan natives called it Chomolungma, meaning "Goddess Mother of Mountains," but the British named it after Sir George Everest, the crack surveyor who charted much of India.
 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quote from Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/tea_3.html

Image McKay Savage https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tengboche_Monastery#/media/File:Nepal_-_Sagamartha_Trek_-_240_-_Tengboche_Monastery.jpg

Prose Excerpt from Sanjay Deodhar’s travelogue Trek to Everest Base Camp

Title,Quote and Haiku Angelee Deodhar

Bio :Sanjay Deodhar is a Mechanical Engineer who likes to read, write and take photographs. He  loves to explore new places and is passionate about trekking, nature walks, wild life, water and adventure sports. His wife and children support him wholeheartedly and often join him on his travels.

I'll finish with some Tibetan harp music:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unU8SdLtd3E

This is the original temple mantra version of Om Mani Padme Hum:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFIQguh2yYI

This haiku sequence is a solo performance by Angelee Deodhar.

This pastiche is called "Rainy Day."  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFF_B9os5-E

The next video combines the sound of rain and Native American flutes:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SynzKC4fWp0

Raag Megh
Megh  is a Hindustani classical raga. The name derives from the Sanskrit word Megh, meaning cloud. Legends say that this raga has the power to bring out rains in the area where it is sung.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90xd79TJ55s

Enjoy!  This is a good evening to stay in and read.  I'm off to start Janine Pommy Vega's Tracking the Serpent, a book that my friend Catfish McDaris recommended highly.  

Haibun and Haiku from John McDonald

Tonight I'm pleased to post some haibun and haiku from John McDonald, the Scottish poet.  The haibun depicts a veteran's transition to life after war.



MENDING
------------------

Home from Helmand; one hand less; nerves a bag of marbles.

Home to cry and cry:

his dreams smelling of cordite;
the slow motion frame-by-frame passing of the many souls
through his 'cross hairs'.

The fountains spurting,

the terrible fountains spurting -

heads rolling like tumbleweed through a desolate place -

the kneeling fountains spurting.


Wept out,

he hears again the Fajr Prayer: DAWN - a new day,

and, from the nursery, comes life teetering - forgiving!



she makes a purple sun
out of playdough
...and mends a broken soldier

HAIKU

1

night sounds
at rest inside
the old saxophone

2


first grandchild -
swifts tying bows
over the gift

3

his blood zigzags
through the cobbled alley
...silent syncopation

(for Chet baker)

4

in his garden
a rotting sailboat
...he still dreams on


5

a son emigrates -
back in the garden
a trembling branch


6

rocking backwards and forwards -
great bird
pecking at the blues

(For Gerry Mulligan)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fall is coming soon, which may please some of you and distress others.  Here is Chet Baker and Paul Desmond's version of "Autumn Leaves": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgn7VfXH2GY

Let's play some Brazilian-influenced music.  Here is Gerry Mulligan's "The Morning After the Carnival from Black Orpheus": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27b8wAp8nMg

Saturday evening my husband and I went to a concert by Jeff Denson and others, including Warren Wolf on the vibes.  Here are a few songs for you.

This version of "Subconscious Lee" is with Lee Konitz who did not play Saturday:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyigmq5HLjE&list=PLgPDbBzO0m4uuJwZWelfI1NvcPWXtKuLo

Jeff Denson also sings:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW_mjwzGl48

He and the other musicians also played "Fixing a Hole," which is part of a project he is doing as part of the San Francisco String Trio:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc2erKus3jM

Bryn Fortey, the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Chet Baker

A while back Bryn Fortey reminded me about the Modern Jazz Quartet.  Here is his poem about this group.

M J Q

1920s?

Try the Modern Jazz Quartet for size

Four for the price of one

John Lewis (1920)

Milt Jackson (1923)

Percy Heath (1923)

Connie Kay (1927)

Sophisticated counterpoint

Chamber-jazz feeling

European classical forms

They had their critics

But were popular beyond

The limiting jazz community

During their late sixties peak

Lewis’s compositions

And group improvisation

Of vibrant intensity

Kept them at the forefront

Of jazz that was undeniably modern

Bryn Fortey

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Chet Baker is definitely worth writing about as well.  Bryn's title is fabulous!

NO VALENTINES FOR THE JAMES DEAN OF JAZZ

Chet Baker burst upon the scene

In the piano-less quartet

He formed with Gerry Mulligan

Cool jazz was “in” and

His looks and swoon-era vocals

Seemed to guarantee stardom

But his personality was as fragile

As his poignant, emotionally- charged

Trumpet playing

Whatever the question

Heroin supplied the answer

Drifting in and out of drug deluded decades

Baker resurfaced at odd moments

Like a jazz mercenary

Have trumpet: will play: where’s the money?

Dollars always needed for the next fix

Yet there were still occasions

When the music was sublime

(Which only emphasised what had been lost)

Chet Baker: sweet and sour

From jazz idol to ravaged junky

What a waste

Bryn Fortey

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't know how much Modern Jazz Quartet I've posted here, but here is their version of "Softly, as in a Morning Sunrise," another great title.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crCxefHCLJA

"Blues in C Minor" epitomizes MJQ's willingness to blend musical genres:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-_sYoaNVMw

"Bachianas Brasileiras no. 5" brings Brazilian music into the mix:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JhUfGet1ng

Here is a live version of their "Django."  From the host's hairstyle, this performance appears to be from the 1980s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW-QCiO9_xE

As soon as I started playing these cuts above, my husband came running to hear Milt Jackson on the vibes.  Ethan plays Jackson's CDs and YouTube videos quite a bit.

I've posted Chet Baker's version of "My Funny Valentine" before, but I have to pair it with Bryn's poem:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvXywhJpOKs

This song "Festive Minor" also features Gerry Mulligan:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aTsO5IpMUg

Or you may prefer a standard like "Stardust":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86CiUURjC5k

Enjoy!

Chani Zwibel Begins August....

This evening, as we begin August, I'd like to post more new poems by Chani Zwibel, a poet from Georgia.  Let's see if I can post these poems *and* go for a walk this evening.  Chani's poems make me want to walk to our local park--even if it is hot and humid outside!



GARDEN SECRETS

Fire in the candle and fire in the new life and fire in the firefly unfurling in the whisper of spring.

Fire goddess, burn, bring us the sun, citrine, fire fairies, contain yourself within the hearth but burn bright within the poet’s mind, a muse with a fuse, hot, consuming, insatiable.

This is your variable: through the rain we feel your heat still.

Spark in us as spark in you.

Robins in the muddy yard and smell of wet earth, signaling the turn toward spring, at last, winter waning under the coming moon.

I will give you all the secrets of the garden if you but ask.

WHERE A WALK CAN SOMETIMES LEAD

i
Grey evening full of rain,
bird cries filling the air,
takes me back to my childhood in this life,
 where I still find places
 just wild enough to whisper
the names of the old gods,
 rain-wet earth just damp enough
 to evoke the wood-smoke filled eras
 long trundled under the expanse
 of the Industrial Revolution,
 the Oil Boom,
 and the birth of the Internet,
these ugly modern deities
of mass produced goods,
these plastic intangibles.
Just enough old wild world left
 in this docile suburbia
 to remind me and let me dream.

ii
How many darker gradients of blue
 does the sky turn on its way down to black,
and how much of the heavens
 fill with deepening purple
before the first stars
or bright planets wink through?
I wonder as I stare up at Orion,
 silver pin pricks picked out
 in a plum expanse.

iii
 Walking the dog,
 I watch her shoulder blades shift
under blue-grey fur,
determined creature,
to pull at the leash for every smell
 on down the whole neighborhood.
I always take the dead end street
 to avoid other people as much as possible.
I share more communion with the trees
 and the squirrels
and other peoples’ dogs barking
at mine as we pass.

iv
Because I’m thinking:
The last polar bear is slowly starving,
 waiting on a winter that won’t come.
The sea ice is melting
 as we McHiccup our way to destruction.
One slow tear is sliding down my cheek,
hot like the global crisis
 my species has cooked up.

v
The march to the grave might as well be flashy.
 Give me my high heels,
 my latte,
 my blow-out,
 I’m good.
A corpse full of chemicals
 made by the gods of consumerism.
And yet I never tire of looking at the moon.
Yet sometimes purple flowers grow in the Mojave.

PRAYER FOR STRENGTH

All you listening saints, pray for me tonight. All you hovering Angels, draw near. My spirit is weak and weary and I am crowded by fear, consumed by frustration. Help me. Send down heavenly rays of love and sterner stuff. Give me a lion’s heart that I may roar and send these demons fleeing from my mane, where they try to tangle their claws. Let the four winds to sweep down upon these maladies, blow them out to the open oceans and drop them. Away from me ye wicked ones of old. Feast not upon my heart’s blood, gnaw not upon my bones, wet not your tongues in delight upon the misery of my innards. I will be free of you! I will not let you inhabit this carcass, for yet I breathe! Yet I live, and I will live in freedom. My soul is no tower you will overthrow. I have dreams, and they will sustain me. I have hopes, and they will lift me. I have faith and it will shield me. I give you no power; your hold diminishes. Help surrounds me. I will not be daunted. I stand upon the high hill cloaked in splendor, a blade in my hand to strike down my foes. No creeping evil will corrupt me, for I am fortified. The love of the Creator fills me, guards me, houses me against all harm.  

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't think I've posted much Dexter Gordon (1923-1990).  Here is his "I'm a Fool to Want You":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5WJ66XLiAQ

"In a Sentimental Mood" follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_egoBp1-EJ4

This is his version of "Meditation":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvogMXhQ1wo

I'll finish with "Wave," another Brazilian piece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-bYFk6QVKw

New Poems and Images by Alex Conrad

Shadows of Our Selves

This evening I'd like to post some words and images that my former student Alex Conrad has sent me.  Both are well worth pondering on a Friday evening.  Alex's images are the first two, the ones with captions.  The other three come from Google Images.

Dans le Noir

By Alex Conrad

Why is it so many are free

Only in the darkness of night?

Broken, scattered, scathingly scarred

Seeping sadness slowly suddenly stops

Upon one image.

Anybody can be anybody under the guise of nighttime.

A man can be the knight he always wanted to be…

A woman can be the princess she thinks she needs to be…

A boy can dream of a time where he gets what he wants…

A girl can spin in circles until her sadness melts away…

But the ugly, the decrepit, the evils

Also come out to play

Dans le noir de nuit…

They clutch at heartstrings,

Playing the music only they know

How to play and we know we sing.

Under the cover of night,

Witches can be beautiful…

Manipulators can be loving…

The spiteful can be caring…

The soul-less can be soul-ful…

You have never known pure adrenaline

Until you have stared at the underbelly of Satan.

He maniacally masters many men

Making monstrous masks rambling through the days.

Life is never black and white.

La vie n’est pas rien le noir ou le blanc.

There will always be a gray area.

It is within that area that many monsters roam.

Don't Trust What You Don't See

The Darkness Within

By Alex Conrad

Itching to be let free.

Scratching at just below the surface.

Screaming to be heard.

There is darkness within all of us.

But some are more likely to allow it to consume them.

Bullets sprayed into the night

Without any rhyme or reason,

Ending innocent lives supposedly guilty of treason

This isn’t even the end of the plight.

They tell us that protection is what we need

Protection from others is how they preface it,

But we really need it from ourselves.

Fear can be consuming.

Fear can be assuming.

Fear can be hateful.

Fear can be unfounded.

Black, white, olive, copper,

All different in skin,

But similar within.

We all have dreams.

Why is it others’ jobs to tell them

Their dreams cannot be reached?

Ending a life with a bullet, bomb, or knife

Apparently is how we dole out the sentences.

We do the job of the Fates

Because there is darkness within all of us.

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Never Trust the Whispering Weeping Willow

By Alex Conrad

Everyone has secrets

We all have façades we are terrified people will see through

But the whispering weeping willow knows everything we hide.

From our darkest depths of our lies

From the flakiness of the epidermis

To the roots of our sinister sins seeping slowly into fruition.

From rain-soaked windows,

We stare upon the wonders she does.

We believe she's there to protect us

But she's really just listening to the screaming of our soul.

Word spreads like the wind

Even the smallest of creatures know that which we fear.

Loss,

Loneliness,

Uselessness,

But above all, death.

Why do you think her branches wipe the dirt away from the ground?

She's just preparing our burial grounds.

She knows she'll always win.

Wickedly twisted she waves holistically

watching us wither away.

She will always win.

 --------------------------------------------------------------

Bradbury’s Ghost Meets Orwell’s

By Alex Conrad

Blue screens are all the craze.

Books get figuratively burned by Kindle Fire.

It's odd to see someone walking down the street,

Especially with the fear of the Hound,

Lurking around every corner on every different form.

Big Brother smiles down

Upon the madness that has happened within this Animal Farm.

It seems like 1984 is not just another number.

The literal hanging of innocents,

Stepping to the side to avoid figurative rain-washed puddles.

But as I sit here sipping my milk-filled cup of tea,

I wonder how is it that two men from different lives,

Different walks of life,

Had a predisposed knack of writing warnings.

Look in the window at poor Montag’s

Holding onto dear Clarisse’s.

The poor work-horses of the rebellion,

Worked to death by a dream of a few.

See the Chief Beatty’s of the world

Destroy knowledge for the sake of their image.

If all goes to hell in a handbasket,

Let me go as the old woman seen as a nut did,

Surrounded by the sanctity of literary freedoms.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now it's time for some music.  Toshiko Ayikoshi is another jazz musician born in the 1920s.  Formerly she led a big band that performed every Monday night at Birdland, and she has also performed as a pianist.  She is currently based in New York City.  Let's start with her "Memory":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQGFYErcZTo

"Kogun" features her big band and Japanese instruments:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tmfuGQSa_0

This performance of "Autumn Sea" is fairly recent (2014):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioCrF63Scls

"The Village" is a solo piece:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0t8WSu6Tcc

The Summer of Miles Davis

This summer could very well be the Summer of Miles Davis...not just at The Song Is...  This year is the ninetieth anniversary of Miles' birth.  Some of you may have seen Don Cheadle's movie about him as well.    Tonight I'd like to post Bill Cushing's tribute to this giant of jazz.  It was previously published in Stories of Music, Vol. 1.


 “Music isn’t about standing still and being safe.”

— Miles Davis (1926 - 1991)

listen

two weeks after you died

a quarter-million thronged

by the St. Johns River

to hear the music you had spawned

hoping to see you

but

even in death

you never looked back

           

they were all there

            Hannibal                      Bird                

            Chick                           Jo-Jo   

            Red                             Jaco

            Bean                            Dizzy

            my favorite      Freddie Freeloader     

isolated

you

were a beacon

            a flagship for messages

                        of the heart

back to the crowd       unbowed

that proud dance-walk

announced by muted horn

that spoke

and broke

through all the bull

and told us about a place

Miles

ahead of everyone else

you spent a lifetime

            thinking for yourself

            speaking to every generation

playing it all:

            jazz                  blues

            funk                 rock

            fusion 

categories took

a backseat

to creativity

            and rhythm

            space

            and feeling

                        spirit

I remember fourth grade

picking up a horn

then laying it down

rock and roll was my world

what did I know

seven years later I heard

it was in the Garden

where you brought me back

to music

I walked all the way home

Miles

from that train station

my head pounding with sounds

frantic-fast as the subway

I spent the night on

            those African rhythms

            you used decades

            before anyone else

            even thought to

filling my head

letting me know

I’d have it all down cold

if I could walk

as cool as the notes you heard

            coming from

Miles

you had that thing

            that style

that spark that was

a blue flame

            jumping

            off a gas stove

igniting everything                  everywhere

touching the genetic

resonant

frequency

in all

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's listen to some of Miles' music as well, starting with "Freddie Freeloader."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-nuaBFF1PQ

I'll include his "All Blues":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFuHKvEuFbU

Here is a live version of "On Green Dolphin Street":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TMpMX7sBb4

"Bags' Groove" also features Sonny Rollins and Milt Jackson:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUGkPo2N7jM

Let's skip a few years to Bitches Brew.

Here is "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1a1Ph-ioxoA

"Sanctuary" follows:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eV4FiRb19ZY

I'll finish with a live version of his "Time After Time":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OvPcItS6WE