on hearing dexter gordon
and the sam rivers trio
at zellerbach
I got nothing gainst modern jazz
cept when they try to play it too darned fazz
n lose the beauty of the melody
till it sound jus like a symphony.
I mean,
I didn’t know what Chuck was saying.
I mean, some rock punk saying jazz lost melody
Saying it’s a symphony.
I figured he just work-rhyming for the negative.
How was I to know the man pre-seeing Sam Rivers.
Cause that is what Sam Rivers played,
A symphony.
I mean,
I got nothing against Dexter Gordon.
I saw him play in 1964 in Copenhagen:
……….dark little club all funky
……….montmarte/place pigalle/espresso deal
……….wear your shades, your turtleneck and
……….look cool.
And it was nice to see him looking good.
14 years later a lot of folks is not
Cluding the friend with whom I saw him
And he had a lot more going at the time
than old Dexter.
But, I mean,
Georgia On My Mind put mine to sleep.
How many times we got to hear
……….first the theme
……….then I solo
……….then you solo
……….then he solos
……….then he solos
……….then we wraps it up and do it again
……….then we do it three more times and for an encore
……….we do it again.
Now I don’t know I knew what Sam Rivers was doing.
I admit first I thought they were working on the plumbing
And you could listen if you want.
But the man was doing something
That your legs had to get you out of
Cause your sleep couldn’t.
He was doing something
Even if it was
……….rip out the plumbing/kick the cat/trash the tiffany/rape
……….the blackboard
……….burn the reichstaag/blitzkrieg poland/sink the bismark/lion
……….the christians.
The man was doing something.
And maybe you can’t tap your foor or nod your head, eyes shut,
all cool
But you can love the man for trying
To show you