“SO WHAT,” a poem by Golda Solomon

February 4th, 2005

SO WHAT

 

Baptized by vodka cleansing my throat
Baptized by sweat dripping from Tony Williams’ sticks
Thick Summer Sunday &nbsp Afternoons
at the Vanguard

Miles ready
Horn like a flyswatter, ready to strike down
this whippersnapper of a man/child
Testing
the beast in a muted horn

Tony drawing Miles in and driving Miles’ sounds
Out there
Out there
Miles knew
asking this upstart of the sticks to his schoolyard
Miles’ game and
Tony took over
like those street players on those raggedy assed
west 4th Street courts and
Avenue of Whose America

Lives played out on asphalt
Woosh of ball going cleanly through mesh net
My hands – gripping the fence
Looking in at perfect pick-up games
Blue/black and tans who were fucked over by the man
Come on! Come on!
Dart, pass, dribble, shake and shoot
Beat up sneakers squeakin’
Smokin’ up the pavement

Basketball &nbsp Is &nbsp Jazz
Tony workin’ his backboard
Hitting that hi hat
Rat-a-tat
Rat-a-tat

Splat &nbsp Splat

Honing his ax in Miles’ woodshed and
Miles answered
Miles answered
Smiled that funny smile that looked evil
Hunched over, shook spit out of his horn
walked off the stage and
left him to solo

Nets and hoops shimmied under naked sun

Sckutcha Kuh

Sckutcha Kuh

Sckutcha Kuh

K chuh

K chuh

K chuh

So What!

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In This Issue

painting of Clifford Brown by Paul Lovering
A Collection of Jazz Poetry — Spring/Summer, 2024 Edition...In this, the 17th major collection of jazz poetry published on Jerry Jazz Musician, 50 poets from all over the world again demonstrate the ongoing influence the music and its associated culture has on their creative lives.

(featuring the art of Paul Lovering)

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photo of Rudy Van Gelder via Blue Note Records
“Rudy Van Gelder: Jazz Music’s Recording Angel” – an essay by Joel Lewis...For over 60 years, the legendary recording engineer Rudy Van Gelder devoted himself to the language of sound. And although he recorded everything from glee clubs to classical music, he was best known for recording jazz – specifically the musicians associated with Blue Note and Prestige records. Joel Lewis writes about his impact on the sound of jazz, and what has become of his Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey studio.

The Sunday Poem

photo of Woody Shaw by Brian McMillan, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

”Every Time” by Michel Krug


The Sunday Poem is published weekly, and strives to include the poet reading their work.... Michel Krug reads his poem at its conclusion


Click here to read previous editions of The Sunday Poem

Interview

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Publisher’s Notes

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Short Fiction

Impulse! Records and ABC/Dunhill Records. Photographer uncredited/via Wikimedia Commons
Short Fiction Contest-winning story #66 — “Not From Around Here” by Jeff Dingler...The author’s award-winning story is about a Jewish kid coming of age in Alabama and discovering his identity through music, in particular the interstellar sound of Sun Ra..

Click here to read more short fiction published on Jerry Jazz Musician

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“The Pianist (Part One)” – a short story by J. C. Michaels...The story – finalist in the recently concluded 66th Short Fiction Contest – describes the first lesson at a music conservatory of a freshman piano-performance major who is more accustomed to improvising than reading music. It is an excerpt from a novel-in-progress.

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Short Fiction

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“Melody and Counterpoint” – a short story by Joshua Dyer...In this story - a short-listed entry in our recently concluded 66th Short Fiction Contest - Tucker works as a jazz pianist aboard the deep space luxury cruiser, the Royal Nebula. A flirtatious interlude pushes his new emotional software to its limits and beyond, and he learns the hard way what it means to be human.

Art

photo of Johnny Griffin by Giovanni Piesco
The Photographs of Giovanni Piesco: Johnny Griffin and Von Freeman...Beginning in 1990, the noted photographer Giovanni Piesco began taking backstage photographs of many of the great musicians who played in Amsterdam’s Bimhuis, that city’s main jazz venue which is considered one of the finest in the world. Jerry Jazz Musician will occasionally publish portraits of jazz musicians that Giovanni has taken over the years. This edition is of saxophonists Johnny Griffin and Von Freeman, who appeared together at the at Bimhuis on June 25/26, 1999.

Short Fiction

bshafer via FreeImages.com
“And All That Jazz” – a short story by BV Lawson...n this story – a short listed entry in our recently concluded 66th Short Fiction Contest – a private investigator tries to help a homeless friend after his saxophone is stolen.

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“Like a Girl Saying Yes: The Sound of Bix” – an essay by Malcolm McCollum...The first time Benny Goodman heard Bix Beiderbecke play cornet, he wondered, “My God, what planet, what galaxy, did this guy come from?” What was it about this musician that captivated and astonished so many for so long – and still does?

Trading Fours with Douglas Cole

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Book Excerpt

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Click the image to view the writers, poets and artists whose work has been published on Jerry Jazz Musician, and find links to their work

Coming Soon

An interview with Larry Tye, author of The Jazzmen: How Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and Count Basie Transformed America; an interview with Jonathon Grasse, author of Jazz Revolutionary: The Life & Music of Eric Dolphy; A new collection of jazz poetry; a collection of jazz haiku; a new Jazz History Quiz; short fiction; poetry; photography; interviews; playlists; and lots more in the works...

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Ella Fitzgerald/IISG, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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