For my musician friends Jeff Busch, Joe Gargiulo, Ben Martinez, - TopicsExpress



          

For my musician friends Jeff Busch, Joe Gargiulo, Ben Martinez, Brent David Fraser, Jenny Brice and others who change our lives with their music... ...It seemed that Monk played with sticks attached to his fingertips as he careened through the tune, counting unlike any metronome. He was exotic, his playing was hypnotic. I wish I could say that hearing him, I grabbed my pack and soldiered forward. Not quite. It was the surprise I liked, the discordance and fretful change of beat, as in Straight No Chaser, where he hammers together a papier-mache skyscraper, then pops seagulls with golf balls. Racket, racket but all of it music. What Monk banged out was the conviction of innumerable directions. Years later I felt hed been blueprint, map and education: no streets, we bushwacked through the underbrush; not timid, why open your mouth if not to shout? not scared, the only road lay straight in front; not polite, the notes themselves were sneak attacks; not quiet--look, cant you see the sky will soon collapse and we must keep dancing till it cracks? --from Thelonious Monk Stephen Dobyns
Posted on: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 05:17:49 +0000

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