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    I'm Just the Drummer in the Band: Jazz Poems
    I'm Just the Drummer in the Band: Jazz Poems
    I'm Just the Drummer in the Band: Jazz Poems
    Ebook263 pages53 minutes

    I'm Just the Drummer in the Band: Jazz Poems

    By Alan "Chip" White

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    About this ebook

    A collection of jazz poems honoring jazz icons and exploring the history of jazz.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBookBaby
    Release dateApr 25, 2007
    ISBN9781483507941
    I'm Just the Drummer in the Band: Jazz Poems

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      Book preview

      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

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