Jazz Poems
SHAKING HANDS WITH MONGO
for Mongo SantamariaMongo’s open hands
huge soft palms
that drop the hard seeds
of conga with a thump,
shaken by the god of hurricanes,
raining mambo coconuts
that do not split
even when they hit the sidewalk,
rumbling incantation
in the astonished dancehall
of a city in winter,
sweating in a rush of A-train night,
so that Chano Pozo,
maestro of the drumming Yoruba heart,
howling Manteca in a distant coro,
hears Mongo and yes,
begins to bop
a slow knocking bolero of forgiveness
to the nameless man
who shot his life away
for a bag of tecata
in a Harlem bar
forty years ago
Martín Espada | 1957
from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young
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Requisites
CONCEPTION: THE GIFT OF LOVE | BOBBY HUTCHERSON
Conception: The Gift of Love is a post bop album by vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson. The album was recorded over a two day period on March 15 & 16, 1979 at A&R Recording Studios in New York City and at the Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. The 37 minute, 52 second album was produced and arranged by Cedar Walton and released on the Columbia Records label.
Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson’s quintet includes pianist George Cables, bassist James Leary, drummer Eddie Marshall and percussionists Bill Summers and Kenneth Nash. He brings a stellar horn section to the session with flutist Hubert Laws, trumpeters Jon Faddis, Danny Moore, Anthony Tooley, Joseph B. Wilder, tenor trombonists Robert Alexander, John Gale, Urbie Green, bassoon and bass clarinetist Romeo Pinque, alto saxophone Lenny Hambro, and tenor saxophonists Daniel Trimboli and Frank Wess.
The seven originals were composed by the band members. Side One opens with the leader’s composition No Siree Bob (7:00), followed by Clockwise by Cedar Walton (6:39), and closes with James Leary’s Remember to Smile (5:38). Side Two commences with Dark Side, Light Side by George Cables (4:06), then another Leary composition Hold My Hand (3:58), Eddie Marshall’s Dreamin’ (6:07) and closes with a second Cable composition titled Quiet Fire (4:24).
Though some critics have claimed this album to be one of his lesser releases with nothing memorable occuring, there are some who state it is a masterpiece of lyrical, straight ahead jazz that is melodically beautiful. I found it to be an enjoyable escape and leave it to you to discover for yourself.
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Jazz Poems
FOR ERIC DOLPHY
on flute
spinning spinning spinning
love
thru / out
the universe
i
know
exactly
whut chew mean
man
you like
titter
my sister
who never expressed LOVE
in words (like the white folks always d
she would sit in the corner o
and cry i
everytime n
I g
got a whuppin
Etheridge Knight
from Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young
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Requisites
My Favorite Things ~ John Coltrane
My Favorite Things was the seventh studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane, recorded on October 21, 24, 26, 1960. Released in 1961 on Atlantic Records, it was the first album to feature him playing soprano saxophone, a gift from Miles Davis while they were on tour in Europe. An edited version of the title track became a hit single that gained popularity in 1961 via radio airplay, thus helping the record become a major commercial success. In 1998, the album received the Grammy Hall of Fame award. Fifty-eight years after its release, in 2018 the album attained gold record status, having sold 500,000 copies.
The title track is a modal rendition of the Rodgers and Hammerstein song My Favorite Things from The Sound of Music. The melody is heard numerous times throughout, but instead of playing solos over the written chord changes, both Tyner and Coltrane take extended solos over vamps of the two tonic chords, E minor and E major played in waltz time. This use of modal jazz is evident throughout the album.
The album consists of four songs with Cole Porter’s Ev’rytime We Say Goodbye following the title track on Side 1, then two from the brothers Gershwin, George and Ira, with Summertime and But Not For Me on Side 2. The length of the album is a mere 40:25 but is well worth the listen and a valued addition to any music library that one desires to build.
In the documentary The World According to John Coltrane, narrator Ed Wheeler remarks on the impact that this song’s popularity had on Coltrane’s career: The recording was a hit and became Coltrane’s most requested tune, and a bridge to his broad public acceptance.
The band features John Coltrane playing soprano saxophone on Side 1 and tenor on Side 2, McCoy Tyner on piano, Steve Davis on the double bass, and rounding out the quartet is drummer Elvin Jones.
The production team was Nesuhi Ertegün ~ producer, Tom Dowd, Phil Iehle ~ engineers, Lee Friedlander ~ photography, Loring Eutemey ~ cover design and Bill Coss wrote the liner notes.
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Jazz Poems
DARK TO THEMSELVES
Invent, experiment–Jazzthat doesn’t swing but dances tight
as a drumhead so taut it mightexplode: whole notes cleaved
into sixteenths with a single blow, melodiesrecoded as arpeggios. Say, what he calls this
composition? Tiny fingers diviningan architectonic flow, forearms jacking
cracks in the keyboard as wireand wood cry out in agony:
duo follow, ringing changes.Liberate the dissonance without killing
the blues. Unit structure cut it.They don’t teach this joint in the Conservatory.
Varèse via Jelly Roll, serial Waller,harmony ribbons in a Möbius strip. Recut it.
Enough is enough. Brother can’t playhere again, the customers ain’t paying.
Even Miles was giggling in the darkness.It’s always a bitch to be out
front. He summons the basslineof his thoughts in the shadows, tracing a new theory
of silence. Don’t worry about the next gig.Their ears are still learning.
JOHN KEENEfrom Jazz Poems ~ Selected and Edited by Kevin Young
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