“Jacko and Jim” — a poem by Robert Nisbet
Jacko the Jazzman, office hack,
computer screen by day. At nights
he roams the pubs and village halls,
blowing his sax’s rise and fall.
May 10th, 2018
Literature
Submit your story for the 48th Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction Contest
Heads up to all interested short fiction writers…The deadline for submitting your story for consideration in our 48th Short Fiction Contest is May 31. Click on the “Continue Reading” link for full details.
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May 8th, 2018
“Rainy Afternoon in Kigali (with the Blues)” — a poem by Michael L. Newell
The wind blew all afternoon,
blue my mood, moody the blues
on the box, bleak and blue when
Robert Johnson took over the airwaves;
the wind blew louder and then
May 3rd, 2018
An Albert Ayler (poetic) interlude
Albert Ayler, the Cleveland-born saxophonist whose unorthodox style was inspirational to a generation of free jazz-era and contemporary musicians, is noted in four poems, by four poets
...May 1st, 2018
“Piano Hands” — a short story by Charis Shin
He had beautiful hands — hands with long, slender fingers meant to caress ivory piano keys. Knuckles, she knew, were never the most flattering part of anyone’s body — gnarled and raisin-like skin stretched over delicate bones. And yet, there was a certain beauty in the way his knuckles bent and flexed over the piano, so she protested bitterly when he became a mechanic to make ends meet.
“We’ve got bills to pay,” he said with a matter-of-fact shrug, “And I can always
...April 28th, 2018
“Jazz Guitar Chronicles 7” — a poem by John Stupp
It doesn’t help
that my guitar starts complaining
ok
a 1935 Epiphone Broadway
probably had owners who were better players before me
sure
and probably was in show business
when there was such a business
and probably
April 24th, 2018
Three takes on Louis Armstrong
One afternoon at the age of ten, lightning strikes.
Alone in our ramshackle wood-frame house in Hartford, I decide to listen to some of my parents’ 45 RPM records. I watch one slide down the fat spindle and plop onto the turntable to receive the tone arm and needle. The music starts and like a bolt captures not just my ears but my whole being. It’s a guy with a gravelly voice singing something about
...April 17th, 2018
“His Sound is Sacred” — a poem by Michael L. Newell
he blows a mighty sound
lifts every roof within hearing skyward
lilts and sets every foot dancing
...April 15th, 2018
“Full Moon New Year” — a short story by Debora Ewing
This is one of those parties I’ve heard about, thrown by people with new money in a house they don’t own; like Hipster Gatsby. This is not to disparage our host: he is a sincere human. When one finds one’s self in a cliché, the moment should be chronicled. I’m sitting on a mausoleum chair in the foyer of an upscale Seattle home with my glass of vodka perched on a music stand, chronicling.
The jazz musicians in the living room are playing “Some Day My Prince Will Come.”
“Oh, good, it’s the Disney segment,” I say to nobody in particular. The drunk woman who earlier complimented my
...April 10th, 2018
“Homage (to Joe Albany)” — a poem by Anggo Genorga
And a daughter is not enough or a son
or be a couple with someone who would stick thru all the shit
or the idea of a family
and god or the belief to a higher being is not enough.
The cheap girls and empty sex are always there but never
April 9th, 2018
“Bebop Enlightenment” — a poem by Freddington
The sightless pianist,
Presents the information,
The ideas,
Ornate and complex,
yet always grounded in logic,
The practical applications
of a mountain of details,
and the harmony hidden
April 5th, 2018
“Plainsong” — a short story by Joyce Becker Lee
Tansy steps up to the microphone, and the world shifts into slow motion. Behind her, the band pulsates, big brass, booming beat, and howling saxophones like foreplay. Before her, the shadowy movement of caliginous figures, backlit to opacity, a murky mob breathing as though one, daring her to entertain with the melodies stored in her throat and heart, perversely seeking the pleasure to be derived from her anticipated failure to enthrall.
The mike’s silver orb becomes her focus, its aura a tight dome that pulls at her breath, sucking the notes from her depths, the rushing air inverting her
...April 3rd, 2018
In This Issue
Features
Interviews
Poetry
The Joys of Jazz
Short Fiction
Coming Soon
