John Coltrane
Henry Threadgill
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
Sun Ra
Pharaoh Sanders
Charles Mingus
Yusef Lateef
Thelonious Sphere Monk
Ornette Coleman
Eric Dolphy
***
rip a rhythm
from the seas
rig it to the stars
don't panic
it's just the start
***
eons of heat
burnt into score sheets
each note a dare to eternity
to throw down its gold key
John Coltrane
spins a sun
and sets another system swirling
on the pulse of elvin jones’
breakneck metronome
to redefine rhythm
and therefore space time
'these are a few of my favorite things'
sings a soprano sax
so unlikely
only inevitable
like a cardinal
on green grass
it appears
to wrap minds
around new vines
scaling manhattan canyons
trane laid down sets
with monk at the five spot
said rehearsals
were 'just learning'
from sphere
eight hours at a pop
how to stop a blue train
can't be done
bends into night
sounds lonesome blue
midnight blue
blue egypt
blue ascension
blue the color of the robin's egg
in carolina hills
blue beam of starlight
on the nightingale's beak
blue stones roll
as tumbling notes
across the staff paper
blue the color of
astrological charts
strung across
the beams of night
'won't the midnight special
shine a light on me'
leadbelly memorandum
laid the table
for stone cold blues
trane could reform the
in the steam engine
of harmonic extension
medieval modes put into
brass improvisations
call it africa/brass
call it 'the spirit
made me do it'
ballads whispered
from duke ellington's piano
were information
in a glazed glass
tangerine sundown
the tenor in the hands
invocation
of the very stars
of the coming night
all was written
in your name already
coal the element
to generate steam
trane the engine
crossing the continent
in ascents and whistle-round-the-bends
so much trouble seen
refined down
to copper penny arpeggios
trane baroque tapped
onto broadway melodies
so much trouble seen
must glean some daybreak
into the coldwater flat
while the steam
of trane’s inventions
floats up
the fire escape dawn
it's time to craft a monument
alright trane will do it
in sonic sculpture
and know the rushmore
of this night
of this song
is in the ascension
up
Henry Threadgill
the ghost of buddy bolden
fire in his eyes
floats over the rooftops
of bronzeville june nights
swing a gate open
and follow a line
from the bayou
to chicago's stockyard miles
the second line drop step
of buddy bolden's gone
storyville blues
blows a highwire signal
into chase scenes around the el lines
henry threadgill passes easily
into otherworldly states
songs bloom and push forward
into fragrant skies
like bumble bees in flight
very very curious
the dreams that grow
as diamonds in washington park
fish ponds
the future is already written
in sky lightning
for those ready to see
pure sound and power
in breath
each note
must teeter on the tightrope
for the flute to bring forward
the cello to draw downward
magnetic poles battle
in the balance
fire in his eyes
floats over the rooftops
of bronzeville june nights
swing a gate open
and follow a line
from the bayou
to chicago's stockyard miles
the second line drop step
of buddy bolden's gone
storyville blues
blows a highwire signal
into chase scenes around the el lines
henry threadgill passes easily
into otherworldly states
songs bloom and push forward
into fragrant skies
like bumble bees in flight
very very curious
the dreams that grow
as diamonds in washington park
fish ponds
the future is already written
in sky lightning
for those ready to see
pure sound and power
in breath
each note
must teeter on the tightrope
for the flute to bring forward
the cello to draw downward
magnetic poles battle
in the balance
heard it all
I heard it all
in the one-bedroom
overlooking the lilac tree
in bloom
the drug deals
on the corner and out
the tiny black speakers
too much sugar for a dime
was it poured into porcelain cups
in late-night edward hopper
contemplation
or drunk with the dogon
people of the dog star
who navigate all that celestial space
from red clay earth of malian midnights
eons of heat
burnt into score sheets
each note a dare to eternity
to throw down its gold key
you'll hitch your circus wagon
to her and rise over the limestone walls
of the hudson
east above the atlantic
to find a flute seen years ago
in dreamtime
of chicago twilight
henry threadgill grows melodies
in goa
blue india
blue shimmer
the alto sax line
and two tubas cannonball crush
twin guitars
sprung like jet turbines
backbeat breaks down to reveal
the cabinet of many doors
start with jelly roll reborn
to an orchestra of windmills
whinin’ boy blues of winged antelope
hovers over the land
where the buffalo roam
the sides of nickels found
by junkstore troubadors
iconoclast
eyes the tall grass
for signs of the forbidden theatre
rolling into town
try dancing to this number
we’ll choreograph the eight petals
of lotus light that only appear
on parade day
in lily pad revival
it’s showtime
it's high tide
too soon to know
if this seed will rise
into oak or baobab
let the bass be plural
and play tag with the crash cymbals
the circus wagons are on fire
so much rising up
release elements
to regain old kingdoms
of thrill magic
of the still active
kingdom of birds
risen to harmonize and ignite
what was lost on rolled scrolls
call them down now
with flute and arched bow
between major and minor
passing through dreamtime
I heard it all
in the one-bedroom
overlooking the lilac tree
in bloom
the drug deals
on the corner and out
the tiny black speakers
too much sugar for a dime
was it poured into porcelain cups
in late-night edward hopper
contemplation
or drunk with the dogon
people of the dog star
who navigate all that celestial space
from red clay earth of malian midnights
eons of heat
burnt into score sheets
each note a dare to eternity
to throw down its gold key
you'll hitch your circus wagon
to her and rise over the limestone walls
of the hudson
east above the atlantic
to find a flute seen years ago
in dreamtime
of chicago twilight
henry threadgill grows melodies
in goa
blue india
blue shimmer
the alto sax line
and two tubas cannonball crush
twin guitars
sprung like jet turbines
backbeat breaks down to reveal
the cabinet of many doors
start with jelly roll reborn
to an orchestra of windmills
whinin’ boy blues of winged antelope
hovers over the land
where the buffalo roam
the sides of nickels found
by junkstore troubadors
iconoclast
eyes the tall grass
for signs of the forbidden theatre
rolling into town
try dancing to this number
we’ll choreograph the eight petals
of lotus light that only appear
on parade day
in lily pad revival
it’s showtime
it's high tide
too soon to know
if this seed will rise
into oak or baobab
let the bass be plural
and play tag with the crash cymbals
the circus wagons are on fire
so much rising up
release elements
to regain old kingdoms
of thrill magic
of the still active
kingdom of birds
risen to harmonize and ignite
what was lost on rolled scrolls
call them down now
with flute and arched bow
between major and minor
passing through dreamtime
Rahsaan Roland Kirk
roll rahsaan
rollin' out of ohio
make the lions smile
saxophone clusters mile after mile
gut bucket stride piano wiles
sawdust symphonies beguile
bop to swing to stride
the stritch glides
and the fearful hide
sing into the flute
of worlds which collide
call thee kokopelli
spirit of hunchbacked hopi
who flies the earth with flute free
maintains time and harmony
manzello tangerine melodies peak
as a cubist formation of horns
form a night vision station
born a new nation
in inflated teardrop orchestration
the orbit of elvin's snare drum
rounds saxophone solar trick sums
jaki's black key meteors stun
richard davis bass runs
what orchestra on a hill
what magical pill thrills
in these tricky dreams of will
despair?
kirk brings lunar repair
a rare bee
brewing honey from flowers
of fa so la ti
never scared easily
pulled melodies from trees
snatched rhythms from the breeze
willow weep for me
as I ascend in ecstasy
pillow keep my dreams
I’ll seek them in night’s reverie
risk it
a green and yellow gasket
pistons popping
bass drum dropping
are you ready to go?
'we’re going everywhere'
green is the color
of my true love's mind
yellow the color
of the saxophone climb
a spiral sign
a nautilus shell
curves a bit like a horn's bell
finds three horns are better than one
oceans of impetus
all rise with the sun
saxaphonium to tenor
switch to the stritch
stretch out a line
and scratch that itch
describe the first time
you heard lester live
thick notes stirring
your glass of wine
leave a hole in the tune
where the moon can
break through
and a star
fall into
wherein we can
reach you
rip a rhythm from the seas
rig it to the stars
don't panic
it's just the start
rollin' out of ohio
make the lions smile
saxophone clusters mile after mile
gut bucket stride piano wiles
sawdust symphonies beguile
bop to swing to stride
the stritch glides
and the fearful hide
sing into the flute
of worlds which collide
call thee kokopelli
spirit of hunchbacked hopi
who flies the earth with flute free
maintains time and harmony
manzello tangerine melodies peak
as a cubist formation of horns
form a night vision station
born a new nation
in inflated teardrop orchestration
the orbit of elvin's snare drum
rounds saxophone solar trick sums
jaki's black key meteors stun
richard davis bass runs
what orchestra on a hill
what magical pill thrills
in these tricky dreams of will
despair?
kirk brings lunar repair
a rare bee
brewing honey from flowers
of fa so la ti
never scared easily
pulled melodies from trees
snatched rhythms from the breeze
willow weep for me
as I ascend in ecstasy
pillow keep my dreams
I’ll seek them in night’s reverie
risk it
a green and yellow gasket
pistons popping
bass drum dropping
are you ready to go?
'we’re going everywhere'
green is the color
of my true love's mind
yellow the color
of the saxophone climb
a spiral sign
a nautilus shell
curves a bit like a horn's bell
finds three horns are better than one
oceans of impetus
all rise with the sun
saxaphonium to tenor
switch to the stritch
stretch out a line
and scratch that itch
describe the first time
you heard lester live
thick notes stirring
your glass of wine
leave a hole in the tune
where the moon can
break through
and a star
fall into
wherein we can
reach you
rip a rhythm from the seas
rig it to the stars
don't panic
it's just the start
Sun Ra
are and always will be
tributaries of magnificence
all flow to the same sea
sonic cacophony
turns into beauty
multiplicities
of the ever-changing we
the ark rocks & navigates
levitates into galaxies
of sophisticates
john gilmore tenor lines
leave labyrinthine contrails
on the skies of your mind
ra piano figures
fly and rewind
the tapes of centuries
recorded blind
revise the future
spontaneous
combine
the benign and the unkind
reinvent the sublime
subvert sisyphus on the incline
spin gold from spools of twine
ra left his fingerprints on clouds
dreamt out loud
released the earthbound
through the sound
of the arkestra touching down
the sound of the earth
spinning round
tilted kalimbas on saturn's
sacred ground
bassism
space systems
trace the roots of your
trans-generational
bluesisms
true bliss through
blue prisms
majestic carnivals in
ra's vision
Pharoah Sanders
pharoah saunders
blows fractal fossils
free as shadows
white seas
black pearl cliffs
the universe inside an if
1000 ifs blossom inside
the skiff he sends to sea
navigation by dog star
dips the bow to see
train of okapi
scripted in martinique
impossible jasmine scent
drifts across the field
of his vision
isms he fights
through prisms of light
tears down
with solar saxophone might
by the dawn's early shiver
breaking over the east river
like a phantom conjured
in alphabet city nights
lofts sparking energy
of fingers pressing keys
kites bright fission
and the drum's
orphic mission
oh say can you see
500 dreams of the okapi
grazing on jasmine blossoms
under black pearl cliffs
on the shores of white seas
blows fractal fossils
free as shadows
white seas
black pearl cliffs
the universe inside an if
1000 ifs blossom inside
the skiff he sends to sea
navigation by dog star
dips the bow to see
train of okapi
scripted in martinique
impossible jasmine scent
drifts across the field
of his vision
isms he fights
through prisms of light
tears down
with solar saxophone might
by the dawn's early shiver
breaking over the east river
like a phantom conjured
in alphabet city nights
lofts sparking energy
of fingers pressing keys
kites bright fission
and the drum's
orphic mission
oh say can you see
500 dreams of the okapi
grazing on jasmine blossoms
under black pearl cliffs
on the shores of white seas
Charles Mingus
verses surge and reach
the outer limits
where the concepts
that diminish us
dissolve into pure floating dust
charles mingus
they tried to
jim crow out his soul
but his flow could not be slowed
compositions ascend to peaks of snow
where angels fear to tread
where the devils from the old homestead
get turned away or left for dead
poured syncopated symphonies
of molten silver
wrote notes to make musicians'
fingers blister
described a line the bass and drums
would twist or
circulate above and below
a dove and a crow
conversational flow
between the sticks and the bow
oh how a man bow-legged
and a pigeon-toed
from watts in the '40s
flew musical sorties
but 'oh Lord don't let them drop
that atomic bomb on me'
and so he rolled the ocean floor
his mind flooding with scores
notes pushing the boundaries
staffs bending with memories
the tempestuous century
jazz speaking its reverie
beyond the calamity
mingus composing destiny
Yusef Lateef
to shake the river nile
slow tambourine jangle
unravels the times
we've been undermined
strings sing of fields
delta and elysian
felt in euphratean hearts
under the moonlight
blue with the tattoo
of so much longing
true to the belief
in the splendor of coral reefs
in recumbent seas
that speak
in sparkling dawn
colorful blinks of light
yusef lateef
the rebel who revels
revealed
peels back centuries
of decrepit thuggery
unseals scenery of unheard music
green area of a higher plane
fans the flames of the furnace
of higher mind or cools down
the eternal sine and co-sine
for minds to unwind
insisting on fat riffs
drum beats like shape shifts
through estuaries of song drift
fragments of ghost ships
transformed into
nilesian bliss
unravels the times
we've been undermined
strings sing of fields
delta and elysian
felt in euphratean hearts
under the moonlight
blue with the tattoo
of so much longing
true to the belief
in the splendor of coral reefs
in recumbent seas
that speak
in sparkling dawn
colorful blinks of light
yusef lateef
the rebel who revels
revealed
peels back centuries
of decrepit thuggery
unseals scenery of unheard music
green area of a higher plane
fans the flames of the furnace
of higher mind or cools down
the eternal sine and co-sine
for minds to unwind
insisting on fat riffs
drum beats like shape shifts
through estuaries of song drift
fragments of ghost ships
transformed into
nilesian bliss
Thelonious Sphere Monk
monk when I first heard you
in cuzco after machu picchu
the glacial space between your notes
the piano roll grace
warped in the right place
helicopter operator
arms to propel
defector from the
wasted vectors
lifting you from the hell
of the segregated states
of america
I had to climb in a train
the jungle the rain
to aguas calientes
up there
the thermal baths
like floating on a raft
through the stars
that rain in the andes
came back down
on the train
only this time
my brain starved
for oxygen
upside down oxen
crooked tree limbs crossing
a sip of soda
a glance out the door
brilliant corners
not seen before
and now in the hotel room
the creaky bed
the phones on my head
ruby my dear
was it something I said
all dread lifted
the sins of the
new york police
how they grifted
warped in the right place
helicopter operator
arms to propel
defector from the
wasted vectors
lifting you from the hell
of the segregated states
of america
I had to climb in a train
the jungle the rain
to aguas calientes
up there
the thermal baths
like floating on a raft
through the stars
that rain in the andes
came back down
on the train
only this time
my brain starved
for oxygen
upside down oxen
crooked tree limbs crossing
a sip of soda
a glance out the door
brilliant corners
not seen before
and now in the hotel room
the creaky bed
the phones on my head
ruby my dear
was it something I said
all dread lifted
the sins of the
new york police
how they grifted
upended
notes bent into windows
of colored mosaic
sea glass archaic
brought with the tides
from west african shores
reflected now like pleiades
over the andes
color
notes bent into windows
of colored mosaic
sea glass archaic
brought with the tides
from west african shores
reflected now like pleiades
over the andes
color
Ornette Coleman
granting equal credence
to the harmony
as to the melody
and yet
we can oscillate
between the two
and reach
a crackling in blue
forget
everything
you thought you knew
about the sounds
that came before
because ornette
sets the table
for a feast in which
the water turns to wine
and our thoughts
of time dissolve into
sine equations
syncretisms
of synaptic passages
we'd barely known
but only had
to hear two horns
combine inside that zone
and suggest
the microtones
between the notes
like micro-moments
we can't hold
the shimmer
of a silvered branch
the glance that someone gave
the city squints
we blink and breathe
believe we'll see
again the leaf
the glance
the dance of light
through the haze
of these long
wandering nights
oh days we dreamt
of colorful dawns
that'd speak of a greater grace
than this old place
of bifurcated black and white
of fifty ways to leave
your love of all
you once believed
was right
but still the notes
of wonder
the lunar and solar
eclipses bewilder
all of our dreams
are without parameter
and pete ballistreri
once worked as a janitor
while nights he blew
his colemanesque truths
to audiences of twenty or two
who believed that the man
on the flying trapeze
would ascend into heaven
on the song
that he breathed
we can oscillate
between the two
and reach
a crackling in blue
forget
everything
you thought you knew
about the sounds
that came before
because ornette
sets the table
for a feast in which
the water turns to wine
and our thoughts
of time dissolve into
sine equations
syncretisms
of synaptic passages
we'd barely known
but only had
to hear two horns
combine inside that zone
and suggest
the microtones
between the notes
like micro-moments
we can't hold
the shimmer
of a silvered branch
the glance that someone gave
the city squints
we blink and breathe
believe we'll see
again the leaf
the glance
the dance of light
through the haze
of these long
wandering nights
oh days we dreamt
of colorful dawns
that'd speak of a greater grace
than this old place
of bifurcated black and white
of fifty ways to leave
your love of all
you once believed
was right
but still the notes
of wonder
the lunar and solar
eclipses bewilder
all of our dreams
are without parameter
and pete ballistreri
once worked as a janitor
while nights he blew
his colemanesque truths
to audiences of twenty or two
who believed that the man
on the flying trapeze
would ascend into heaven
on the song
that he breathed
Eric Dolphy
on the bass clarinet
sound like sonic confusion
but it's just something
you've not met before
don't need a weathervane
to hear the song the wind gave
in europe reaching out to souls
with george gervin finger rolls of light
the vibraphone blinks blue sights
navigation signals in the blue night
for the bass to respond to upright
sending messages from
stratocumulus cool heights
tony williams drums tick tock
salvador dali trip clocks
melodies mesmerize minds
like a dream fox
dolphy watched ships
on the seine
as they reached docks
folks flock
stop talk
take stock
as their jaws drop
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