I'm Just the Drummer in the Band: Jazz Poems
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I'm Just the Drummer in the Band - Alan "Chip" White
Burns
Prelude
The Beat
Time
the flow
of motion
in the beat
from the
drum called
Heart
Beat
the pulse
of time
the flow
of rhythm,
the blood
of life
I’m Just
Excuse me now
what’s that
you say?
something about
a specific song
to play
please, no requests
you must understand
after all
I’m just
the drummer
in the band
it’s one of
my first engagements
we call it
a gig
in this
vacuous environment
I’m no gentleman
of acquiescence
you dig!
Talent & Genius
It’s been said
"talent does
what it wants"
while
"genius does
what it must"
between
those two
which would
you trust?
Music
Music
the science
of sound
if you want
to hear it
you have to
shut-up
and sit
on down
Dealing
Don’t even bother to feel
if you can’t deal
you have to come up
with something
a point of contention
an invention
the pressures are great
play your hand
or wait
open eyes will denote
allies
private truths
will be enough
Life or Death
The performance
a challenge to
your talent’s bequest
the moment of truth
it must be
Life or Death
visceral, hopefully
the word
on the scene
if it’s not
in your work
what does
it mean?
created forever
and now
once and
for all
an artistic statement
and personal call
Jazz 1
The master
being a vulture
took away the drum
but couldn’t suppress
the culture
all the yokes
and collars
could not stop
the inevitable
field hollers
we gave Christianity
a spiritual
to keep our
souls alive
New Orleans
the beginning
African concepts played
on European instruments
Creole spirits mixed
with Voodoo communication
[Voilà-Art]
From the New American Nation
King Oliver
Jelly Roll
Buddy Bolden
Bessie
Louis
Johnny and Baby
Dodds
It was a Renaissance
against all
the odds
Scott Joplin
Rag-time
Sidney Bechet
the Hot Five
up the Mississippi
the Chicago swing
like Duke said:
"It don’t mean
a thing"
Jazz 2
The music was lifted
then the scene shifted
Kansas City sessions
regional bands
life on a bus
for most of us
World War II
but we knew
what to do
Be Bop
first they said
we were lazy
[now – Black Art]
we must
be crazy
but we made
our own sequel
which put us
equal
Bird, Dizzy, Monk
and the rest
while those silly
critics thought
they
knew who
was best
Miles and Gil
[the Cool School]
Silver and Blakey
[Hard Bop]
Ornette and Trane
[The Avant Garde]
why do those
Black folks play
so hard?
400 years of dues
the name of this blues
Jazz
if you’ve got ears
The Musicians
Jelly Roll
We’re talking
square one
turn of the century piano
with Mr. Ferdinand Morton
his early gigs
were in the (houses)
of the infamous French Quarter
he then traveled across America
in search of other
stimulating musical waters
with his famous
[Red Hot Peppers]
he recorded
High Society,
Ballin the Jack
Freakish,
Jungle Blues
with Tiger Rag
Sweet Peter,
The Chant
& "King Porter Stomp
this self-proclaimed
[King of Jazz]
and his contemporaries
continued their
ground-breaking creative romp
finally even Broadway
(caught up)
with a 90s production
of his (Last Jam)
Jelly Roll Morton
his classic
Songs of Storyville
reveal a complex
yet wonderfully
unique man
Louis
Pops
He definitely
was not a follower
they say
he dug
King Oliver
his was an
orphan’s call
from New Orleans
with its international
social proximity
it naturally became
the melting pot
for the
original scene
the influences from
Africa, The Caribbean,
Europe, South America
created the Embryo
from the cultural amalgamation
for the art form [Jazz]
in the American Nation
his vocal & instrumental
concept of phrasing
became [The Standard]
as Numero One
Mr. Armstrong’s
trumpet did blow
To the world
he became
the one & only
Satchmo
Bessie
Bessie Smith
the Down Hearted Blues
an historic figure
who pioneered the music
while dealing with those
early 20th Century
racist dues
possessing what was called
a flamethrower of a voice
she paved the way
for the generations
which were to follow
and even then
she was always
the [Vanguard’s Choice]
Bessie Smith
the "Down Hearted Blues
living life
on the fast track
she died in front
of a white hospital
in the south
because she
was black
Duke
From the very
first inning
his was a
royal beginning
although not everything
was easy
growing up
in D.C.
young Edward
learned