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[06] "an oscar for treadwell" |
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Fly Right
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Friday, 23 December 2005 10:49 |
#22
an oscar for treadwell
for paul lichter & ron esposito
& the great oscar treadwell
shoot a straight line
back thru time, from the 6th of june
1950, midway
thru the 20th century
shoot it thru the centerpoint
of a human triangle
made of spirit & flesh,
monk & bird & dizzy
shoot it back to the end
of the 1930s
in new york city,
harlem, clark monroe s
uptown house
at 132nd st. & 7th avenue
on the old site of the rhythm club,
where the set started at 4:00 am
& the house band was bird sometimes,
vic coulson & george treadwell on trumpets,
allen tinney piano, ebenezer paul
on bass, & from brooklyn
a very young max roach
at the drums & leading the band,
the man with the plan so tight
that they named the joint after him,
clark monroe,
the dark gable,
with a sharp eye for business
& a regular hit for the band
in midtown, every night
from 9 pm to 3 am,
seven days a week
with every seventh week off
georgie jay's 78th st. taproom
employed this splendid ensemble
with clark monroe doing his little dance steps
fronting the band all night
& then they would tear off
to harlem & hit
after the taproom gig
from 4 to 8 am
at the uptown house
seven mornings a week, all juiced up
& ready to cook thru dawn
with anybody who was ready to sit in
the clark monroe outfit
set the pace
with its tight little arrangements
& the trumpet of vic coulson
& players would come up to monroe s
from all over town,
after their gigs,
or if they were in the city
with the big bands that toured
they would come up to harlem
& get with what was happening
in the jazz center of the world,
where the cats who could really play
were cutting a new edge
on the shape of the music, pointing it
into the future, out in
front of them, where they could kick it
square in the ass
& make it go
where it had never gone
before in 1942
when the new music
called bebop was new, like even before
it was called bebop, & monk
& bird & dizzy
were wild young men of music
with insane ideas
& incredible technique,
desperate
to push the music
forward,
at clark monroe's uptown house
where coleman hawkins & roy eldridge,
say, & five cats from the glenn
miller band, plus lester young,
billie holiday,
a few students from columbia
including jack kerouac
& jerry newman, who took down the music
on his little wire recorder
that his daddy bought him for college,
plus some sailors on leave,
whores, pimps, & dope sellers,
young musicians like monk
& benny harris, there might be
dexter gordon in town from the west coast
with the benny carter orchestra
& more cats from harlem
with their lady friends,
this would be the crowd
between 4 and 8 in the morning
when the music would start to take off
& bird would play some shit on cherokee
that would make people's jaws drop,
whew,
where did this motherfucker come from,
thrusting his intelligence & drive
into the heart
of the old music, cutting a new channel
where something could be said
about what was happening right now,
bam,
bop,
splee dooley ooo bop,
this was what so many people
had been feeling inside, & say dizzy
climbs up on the stand
& puts in his 200 million dollars worth
& suddenly there is monk
at the piano, & kenny clarke
`klook mop on drums,
& coleman hawkins says whoah, let me
get up there with these young bloods
& feel this out for myself,
ba-weep,
spla-doop,
sploo-eee doolee ree-bop,
this is the shit,
blooo-wee bop she bam,
the heavens opened up & the holy feeling
entered the participants
from above & below, until they were infused
with the new spirit
of the new music,
blue-eee bop,
beee-eee-eee-bop,
bird & monk & dizzy
wailing thru the harlem night
at clark monroe's uptown house,
turning on the world
& spinning it around
on a whole different axis
kansas city, mo
november 14, 1986/
detroit
may 27/july 22/september 28,1987
3.1.665 |
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