_____

 

 

Beehive Records

Tonight I’m spinning
the ugly, unhip
jazzmen of Beehive records,
sweating in their transition shades,
mustaches sincere and wide,
collared tapestry shirts,
hair erupting from ears and noses

and they’re killing—
bellicose ogre grunts
from the bari sax;

tasty sweet tenors
tiptoeing along a melody
like morning hikers
traversing a high ridge;

pianos flexing
interstitial muscles
in and around
solid bone themes.

These men resembling
sad middle school
music teachers are
atavists of an
acoustic age,

their flatted fifths
broken apart by the
gleaming precision
of bright sized fusion.

They’re not
cool like Miles,
spiritual like Coltrane,
brilliant like Monk,

so their legacy wanes.
But the unhip hear
their voices coming through:
geeky technicians
keeping the analog
grooves humming.

 

_____

Michael Yellin lives in Merrimack, NH with his wife, two beautiful daughters, and a little black dog.  A relic who is not on Facebook and who still collects CDs, Michael is an English and writing teacher at Making Community Connections charter school in Manchester, NH, and  he holds a Ph.D in English from Lehigh University.  

 

Some Beehive Records recordings:

 

“Billie’s Bounce,” by Nick Brignola, from Baritone Madness (1977)

“Darn That Dream,” by Sal Salvador from Starfingers (1978)

 

“But Not For Me,” by Dick Katz from In High Profile (1984)

 

 

The Beehive Records page at Wikipedia