Halloween

Halloween

Creaking
Seeking

Spooky
Cooky

Fall's eve
to liven the season.

Nowhere

Nowhere

Although I could be 

Anywhere but there 

I always wish to be nowhere 

Although it's simple 

Anything but interesting 

I just wish to be nowhere 

And though I sing along 

I never hit the note

The note wished of 

Dreamed of in nowhere 

So I dig and I dig 

And I dig to dig 

Searching for gold 

In the land of nowhere 

Just searching 

To find nowhere 

To be a part of nowhere 

To be a sort of nobody...

No, no I do not wish to be part of nowhere. 

Applause

Applause 

Clap clap clap clap

Conversations

Conversations

A tap tap tapping
slingshot across the air bang
hit and miss and talk.

Deaf

Deaf

To be stuck in the sound
so stuck so stuck like mud
so stuck you see nothing
so stuck you are trapped

To be stuck in sound
is to be stuck deeply stuck
so deeply stuck
that you can't hear music.

Reason

Reason

Underneath the wires

cold, technical, robotic -

comes humanity. 

Quintessence

Quintessence 

As I sleepily wander
I slip into what is
could be
was
becomes

the line that once was
is
will be
would be
a spiral
a curl
a wispy trail of

logic that seemed
seems
appears to be
is
hunched over
dismissed
overlooked to

make everything appear
seem
be
the quintessence of it.

Herbie

Herbie

Tick tock
waaam
whispers
pss pss
kkk kkk

the lights go on
flash
scratch
flicker
croak

the long stride down the aisle...

the maiden voyage.

Sounds

Sounds

Droom droom droom droom
druum druum druum druum
da dee
da doo
Droom droom droom droom
druum druum druum druum

Jazz

Jazz

Joyous

Animated

Zealous

Zigzag

Silence

Silence

In a world of noise
silence penetrates the ear
louder than yelling.

Strasbourg

Strasbourg

This is our life
this is our crowd
this is the song we
swing out loud

This is our stomp 
this is our beat

Nothing now can stop us. 

---------------------------
Inspired by Roy Hargrove.

Soloing

Soloing

As I try to fly
I stumble around and crash
a boom a crash bang.

Semicircle

Semicircle 


Hush
        hum
                ho
                ho
         hum
hush

Painting

Painting 

To listen is to
draw and paint and illustrate
music in real time.

Stuck

Stuck

I do not know what note to play
to express what I have to say.

Though I fish and I fish and I fish
all the sounds that come out are sluggish.

Though I toot and I howl and I bend and I spit
no sound seems to be the note, the aura, the it.

Though I swirl and I curl and I yawn and I dive
I am left stuck, defeated, dead but alive.

So  on this day I cannot find the note
that floats and floats but never lands.

Coexist

As I look around

                            from side to side I see

a firefly
             a bumblebee

and the buzz buzz of the bee 

                                              and the vroom vroom of me

seem to coexist as one.

Spring in Fall

Spring in Fall

The thundering beat...
the mellow waves, rainbows and
flowers all blooming.

Pharoah

Pharoah

da da dee duuuumm dee

da dee
           dum
da dee
           laa
                 aha aha

da
    dee
da
    dee

dee daa
            la da dee daaa

a sound so fresh
a sound so new
                            feels so familiar
                            feels so comfortable

a droning call
                       a humming chant
a lulling coo
                       a hissing snap

yeah yeah yeah yeah
                                 yeah yeah yeah ya yeah

da da dee duuuumm dee
                                       da da dee duuuumm dee

oh the creator has a master plan.

---------------------------------------------------
Inspired by Pharoah Sander's 74th birthday and his song "The Creator has a Master Plan".

A Summary

A Summary

If I could summarize jazz

in one word 

what would I say? 

Oh. 

Well, 

maybe I would say jazz is 

people.  

No wait. 

How about, 

adventure? 

Jazz is definitely 

adventurous. 

Daring? 

You kind of have to 

be daring to improvise...

oh and how about 

loving? 

or trusting? 

or accepting? 

It's a sound! 

Yes, a honk

whinny

coo

whisper

swing

step

bam 

boom

Can you hear it? 

But jazz, oh it's America's music!

Jazz is America! 

But wait, it's all over the world. 

Maybe then it's 

worldwide. 

Or it's not really where, but when. 

Jazz is whenever...

Jazz is now. 

If it's whenever, then who is jazz? 

Jazz is anyone. 

Everyone. 

You. 

Me. 

Him, her.

Them.

Wait, so do I define jazz? 

Because 

I can't even summarize it. 

Drums

Drums

hit
    crash
             bang
                     boom

tang tang a lang a doo

Hum

Hum

La da dee
la da dum

When I'm bored
I hum.

That lick

That lick

da dum da dum
da doo da doo
da dee da dee
da diddle da doo.

Stuck

Stuck

Where is the sound I want to hear?

Why it is here.

out of thin air.

Fall

Fall

Hopscotch
up and down
right and left
pat a pat a
boom crash
fall...

Cool

Cool

Whistling coo and caa
breath hovering through the air
music spinning up.

Swinging

Swinging

Whirling and twirling
all I hear is a bit of
Da dop ba dee ba doo
and a whole lot of
ding ding da ding da ding.

Sugar

Sugar

Ba da bop daa
ba doo diddle da dee
ba dee ba da wowwww

ba da bop da
ba doo diddle da dee
ba dee ba da weeee

ba dee ba daaa
ba da diddle doo dee
ba dee ba la doo waaa
ba da ba doo weee
ba dee bop a doo daa
ba doo lee bop aaa
laaa ahh zap a wowww.

(Sugar - Stanley Turrentine in scat)

Exhaustion

Exhaustion

hushed pulling

pushing

clenching

heavy breathing

stepping

bending

a voice

          croaking

lost

           deaf

and a song

hiccuping 

to  

    s

    i

    l

    e

    n

    c

    e

Today

Today

Light bends

Water roars

and sound

keeps silent.

Saxophone

Saxophone

Foreign,

shine dampened
metal chipped
metallic taste
a smell
a sort of tarnish
a rust about to...

cool
watery
splashing
puddles
waves

surfing on
foam
seashells rising
up to the

wind
air
diving through...

a hot air balloon
taking off
so crimson red
so light and fantastic

just foreign,

except to me.