February 29, 2008

Kim Clarke

Beats bass with mad face
Opening for Clash you'd think
she might crack a smile

-- Eric Beaumont

Billy Strayhorn

Hillsborough, N.C.
light, wind down the ravine --
color and sound one

-- Dan Hanrahan


Kahil El Zabaar

lion of rhythms
sky fills with roars of freedom
perfect percussion

-- Kate Ryan Hudson

Billie Holiday

Happy Blues, Sad Blues
Singing her life, her own beat
close your eyes, listen.

-- Beverly Slaughter

February 28, 2008

Yusef Lateef

slow Nile blues
to lotus flower hymns --
soar worlds in song

-- Dan Hanrahan



OutKast

Whence flocketh our young
to empty designer shelves
just to be theyselves?

-- Eric Beaumont


Horace Silver

bluesy bossa bop
topping Newport '58
all soul all the time

-- Kate Ryan Hudson

February 27, 2008

Nod to the saxman
adjust hat, the mute in the bell --
Ellingtonia

-- Dan Hanrahan

Hurricane

He shaves old "Sharach,"
bludgeons Black Oak and stabs Sly
Bodies fall from sky

-- Eric Beaumont

February 25, 2008

Blood Ulmer

solo wah-wah blues
in meadow: shadows & breeze
six string duende

-- Dan Hanrahan

Harvey Scales

The sixth vocal note
of "Spend the Nite Forever"
-- "rrreeEEEALLL..." -- hair stands on end.

-- Eric Beaumont

February 24, 2008

The avenue's leaves
fall as clarinet lines --
Ellingtonia

-- Dan Hanrahan



Adekola

Moon this, June-spoon that.
No more. Uh-uh. Yoruba
chants is where it's at.

-- Eric Beaumont

February 23, 2008

Kool Keith

Mere profanity
cannot mask humanity,
madd'ning sanity.

-- Eric Beaumont


yawp

hey dey stomp some rump
kaleidoscopic swampum
Wild Tchoupitoulas!

-- Kate Ryan Hudson


Yusef Lateef --
Forbidden City blues
on clay pipe and drum

-- Dan Hanrahan

February 22, 2008

Gulls above the Hudson
the benches covered in snow --
Lester Young stops, smokes

-- Dan Hanrahan



mighty mingus

wrestling wood box
chewin puffin fat cigars
the one shifts and drops

-- Phil Spirito

Herbie Hancock (3)

beautiful reaches
atmospherical ether
energies of jazz

-- Kate Ryan Hudson

William Parker and Hamid Drake

percussive beat strings shift
rhythms kaleidoscopes
grooves surge fast as the ear

-- Michael Clark

Puma Jones

Center stage depth charge
South Cacka grad school expat
kicked over damned door

-- Eric Beaumont

February 21, 2008

Alice (2)

Ragas and Gospel
In an ocean of bliss.
Sri Krishna Sri Blue.

-- Michael Clark



Sidewalk dominoes
sun going down, stoop talk --
Ellingtonia

-- Dan Hanrahan



Charles Parker

Manhattan starlight
golden fingertips praying
way down in Bird land

-- Kate Ryan Hudson



Nate Stanford

Big bass anchor,
Suspenders, Docs, cap, presence
You sound like brother

-- Eric Beaumont

February 20, 2008

Leontyne Price

Ave Maria
EP - half quid from AIDS shop
Tears in pub - Christmas.

-- Eric Beaumont



Alice

February rains,
Cherry blossoms in the air
Tape plays Transcendence.

-- Michael Clark



Central Park's leaves
turn red, moon on the still pond --
Ellingtonia

-- Dan Hanrahan

February 19, 2008

Fishbone

Brains, beats, guts, butts, laughs.
Rude tough hip zen jesters cracked,
baptized us in sweat.

-- Eric Beaumont



Lester Bowie

slow consolation
a teem of rain laps the bank
wolf-tone waves spiral

-- Kate Ryan Hudson



Thelonious Sphere

Notes on a tightrope
a little city wind blows --
Manhattan's valleys

-- Dan Hanrahan

February 18, 2008

Howlin' Wolf

Hubert's lines cajole
300 pounds of heavenly joy --
roar of the El above

-- Dan Hanrahan



Jimmy Smith

soul jazz key click cat
electromechanical
master on Hammond

-- Kate Ryan Hudson


Ornette

Shapes of jazz all his own
Angles, lines of math unknown
See-hear what Coleman’s sewn

-- Mark Zeigler



Dexter Gordon

Be Bopping 'til dawn
A hipster's dream with wings
the notes float , and we fly

-- Beverly Slaughter



Bessie

Last studio date
brought in unknown stick licker
Benny remembered

-- Eric Beaumont

February 17, 2008

Chrysler building seen
in the summer pool of rain --
Ellingtonia

-- Dan Hanrahan



Sarah Vaughn

stirring depths gently
soothing lives of listeners
misty in Berlin

-- Kate Ryan Hudson



Ray Brown

Sun, laser, hope beaming
Radiating purest joy
Catch him if you can

-- Mark Ziegler



Kid Creole

Rabbi and imam
link arms, showgirls in whiteface
loot the IMF

-- Eric Beaumont

February 16, 2008

Cee-Lo Green

If hip-hop is to
survive, like rock it must die.
Atop scrapheap, sing.

-- Eric Beaumont


drumroll to first note
So What trumpet solo --
open golden door

-- Dan Hanrahan


for Martha

ballads blues big bands
professor emerita
Miss Nancy Wilson

-- Kate Ryan Hudson


Ella

Velvet comparison
Undermines her song; my ears
Clouds, perhaps, are better

-- Mark Ziegler


Aretha Franklin

She is still the queen
emoting real life, love, pain
for vibrating souls

-- Beverly Slaughter

February 15, 2008

campus requiem

the wind cries hey Joe
where are you going with that
things aren't good, Jimi

-- Kate Ryan Hudson


George Washington Bridge
drivers on the iron pass --
Sonny roars below

-- Dan Hanrahan



Billy Hart

Sweetest of concussions
Swirling, lost in ride alone
Uses not stick but tree

-- Mark Ziegler



Ronnie Spector

American dream:
everlasting summer night
Cry, single gunshot.

-- Eric Beaumont

February 14, 2008

robert johnson

jaunty spirit rise
dapper grit blaze delicate
like lace those fingers

-- Libby Reed



Roberta Flack

turned my head around
at seventeen and ready
for Rev-er-end Lee

-- Kate Ryan Hudson



Betty Roché

Cute bop oo-ya-koo
Tough Dukette - Winehouse printblue
Vaba-dawp dee-ah

-- Eric Beaumont


Coltrane

Naima one note
indigo ostinato --
impressions of dawn

-- Dan Hanrahan



Coltrane

Phonetically misheard;
Earth fueling man’s resilience
Consciousness expanding

-- Mark Ziegler

February 13, 2008

Sharon Jones

Post office > pop charts
Desco > Dap-dudes > healing hearts
She shimmies <> life starts

--Eric Beaumont



Hudson River breeze
dragonfly's mosaic wings --
so goes a Dolphy solo

--Dan Hanrahan


sun ra

words tumbling out down
water wearing away wood
deliberate free

--Libby Reed



hard bop tenor tones
large as life lungs bending notes --
dreams of big Dexter

--Kate Ryan Hudson

February 12, 2008

professor longhair

i didn't really
hear you until nebraska
slaughterhouse rumble

-- Libby Reed



Monk at Five Spot

Improvise on space
sound notes like temple's stone bells --
exit onto daybreak street

-- Dan Hanrahan



Stanley Clarke

Alembic in hands
wrist hooked down right snapping strings
funkin' it up bad

-- Kate Ryan Hudson



Coltrane, space age brain
Flights thru notes from different galaxies
Back to earth for us

-- Edward Yeo



Chuck D

Marv Albert Wilt Marx
Gold brain self-esteem spokesbro
My humble hero

-- Eric Beaumont

February 11, 2008

Busdriver

Thrownounslikefrisbees
forJoesdrownedinhistory
Mowdownmisery

-- Eric Beaumont



Duke

His bow tie undone
Harlem's night becomes day --
window on this blue world

-- Dan Hanrahan


aretha franklin

gravely velveta
loose lumbering DeVille
bringing it on home

--Libby Reed

February 10, 2008

Parade Saturnesque
big band dipped in astral wine --
Arkestra's on stage

-- Dan Hanrahan


Roxanne Shanté

Juice Crew rebuke to
all you unruly b*#*#s
That means us, fellas

-- Eric Beaumont

February 9, 2008

Skip James

3 a.m. stoplight sway
Mississippi moon arise --
exits juke joint haze

-- Dan Hanrahan


Tousan

You both play piano
You've been single long enough
Marry him, Mama

-- Eric Beaumont

They made it real
Les McCann, Eddie Harris
Montreaux monuments

-- Kate Ryan Hudson

February 8, 2008

17 Syllables

The head to A train
composed by Billy Strayhorn --
length of a haiku

-- Dan Hanrahan


Roy Haynes

brush circles snare head
flow and groove spectrum of strokes
pull tighten loosen -- drive it

-- Kate Ryan Hudson


little jimmy scott

silky warbler love
one long entangled dinner
what i wouldn't give

-- Libby Reed


Latifah

Knowledge kicked glam, now
dance! Funkblast from her fast mouth
East Orange tuff queen

-- Eric Beaumont

February 7, 2008

Miles

himself a haiku
truth, brevity, ears ring with
deafening silence

-- Mark Ziegler


Mahalia

In devil's minors
she and Mildred touch the part
that longs to believe

-- Eric Beaumont


only art

springing from keys
hands dangle and dance tinklin
tatum turns to grin

-- Phil Spirito


Wayne's Way

local demi-sec
cafe frame of mind kitchen
fertile sixties sax

-- Kate Ryan Hudson


Wide suburban street
Hendrix Along the Watchtower --
my mind's on fire

-- Dan Hanrahan


charles mingus

deep grooves beat my viens
like a spring cattail rhumba
frothy thick cool swamp

-- Libby Reed

February 6, 2008

Ellington

what was it like to hear
that which they had never heard
from black man in black tie?

-- Mark Ziegler


In friend's dad's records
found Monk Plays Ellington --
my drifting world slows

--Dan Hanrahan


L. Allison

bars and clubs gone by
from diddley bow to Paris --
Luther's riffs remain

-- Kate Ryan Hudson



jimmy reed

soft words ooze and soothe
high hats drop the stomp and clamp
the gut tar to the back

-- Phil Spirito



Pat Hamilton

Ordinary guy
trembles, she cries from the sky
Mixed up, shook up girl

--Eric Beaumont

February 5, 2008

pop staples

pop's guitar chugged
to inspire a movement
and a family

-- Phil Spirito


miles from

missing green mountains
blue note deepens indigo
horn howls into void

-- Kate Ryan Hudson


Monk

88 shapes bird
flocks may take in Central Park --
arise sleeping notes

-- Dan Hanrahan


Shahanna

She rescued reggae
When the record stops feels like
falling out of love

-- Eric Beaumont



Butch Warren

presence felt, now seen
through fog - ghost in capitol
DC keep him warm

-- Mark Ziegler

Nina Simone

solace led me home
an immense quilt a keyhole
little relief map

-- Libby Reed

February 4, 2008

CenterStreetmeltdown
Smoke clouds, strings bend, heads turn --
Albert solos from the street

-- Dan Hanrahan


junior wells

sucking air over
scratchy reeds with bloody teeth
junior moans his hymn

-- Phil Spirito


Satch Goes North

Dipper Dapper dumped
dirty dime-dance ditties, jumped
joyful, joined Joe...JASS!

-- Eric Beaumont



ella fitzgerald

deep down woman kind
i became you in my mind
and was enormous

-- Libby Reed

February 3, 2008

Kelis

"This is my story,"
she rasps in Midwestern twang,
kisses you with throat

-- Eric Beaumont


Rise of the drawbridge
a breath pause in the city --
Mingus plots next move

-- Dan Hanrahan

curtis

we're a winner
deep down he made me believe
with a birds high voice

-- Phil Spirito

Herbie Hancock (2)

keyboard galaxies
a magnificent life state
exists within you

-- Kate Ryan Hudson

nicole mitchell

tone with real purpose
gloriously real raindrops
dance tip plink tap tink

-- Libby Reed

February 2, 2008

Driving into Memphis,
listening to Porgy & Bess:
Miles sings all the roles

--Harvey Taylor


Birks Meets Pops on Gleason

"Pitter-patter, looks
liznike riznain, dig me, Satch?"
"Baba doe zotz!" Skin!

--Eric Beaumont

feb 1 for sun ra

outer space was where
he came from to stroll along
the keys making magic

--Phil Spirito


Street corner uptown
the wind & an overcoat --
Reverend Davis sings

--Dan Hanrahan


Ray Bryant

Main Street Urbana
strains of you over coffee
they call it girl talk

--Kate Ryan Hudson

Jimmy Garrison

Steel, flesh and ebony
Combine with graceful power
Can one hear transcendence?

--Mark Ziegler