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[05] "steps" > "Spectrum" > "LUYAH! The Glorious Step" |
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If I Could Be With You
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Sunday, 15 January 2006 09:39 |
steps
for cecil taylor
we stood in our boots & screamed
that it had to be so. that whole philosophies
were the words of saxophones. that is
that these people were literally speaking, & what they sd
was what we needed them to say. that the world
is truly a different place
than we could ever make it. & wanted a purity,
lacked it, & stupidly
would have invented it. would not face the planet
as it would face us. why
should it. or better yet, open it out & sing,
"we wanted to help you, impose our europeanisms
all over your meat. we didn't know any better. will you
please forgive us." & no answer floats back, as if
there were no question.
there is no question.
there are no answers. everything
is out in the open. all these wild musicians
who would have made us fools, if they had the time. or
the inclination. i mean
they pointed straight ahead,
& point now, for us to follow them. with our tongues
dumb in our heads. just listen to it,
is what they said,
just be the music
& it'll all
be all right. just to be the music,
is the only thing we need. the music,
& the world
it would make of us
detroit
february 1, 1968/
new orleans
december 22, 1993/october 19, 1995
"Spectrum"
for Andrew Hill
The whole range, of possibility. The colors
that fill up our lives, make them
of useful substance, to ourselves & to each
other that we do
take in. Paint your self
red. Paint it blue. Make it
that much of the colors
of everything you see. Do. Come to
feel, what is at the heart of
every one of us
on this earth. Color it
brown then, as the earth is brown, as it is
so much of what we are.
Make it
green too, &
go like that. Yellow,
for caution. & red will not
stop us, from doing just what
we know we must do. A
human
measure then, no law but of the
eye, & ear, the sense
that we can make of it. The spectrum,
of human activity. The colors,
of movement, so fast & straight
that we can only feel it
Detroit
February 23, 1966/
New Orleans
January 1994
"LUYAH! The Glorious Step"
is from where you are now
to where you are now, the whole thing moves
just that quick
1
Every step counts, that's what makes it
(makes the whole thing) so
glorious. That you can
keep on stepping, para-
taxis, one step
at a time--& again,
that you never "get there," or
anywhere, except as you stay on
top of it, as it keeps moving a
head, a hand a foot a
step at a time, to make the
proper con-
nexions, know where you're headed &
how to
get there, that
you can find out for your
self, as
any of us have
a step at a time
2
Just to get that close to the
quick of it, that far in
that close to the pulse
of your own workings, & ride it
straight on out, head
first--the precision
of the movement, that you can re-
cord it as it moves, step
by step, that close, the rock &
roll of it, the beat
of your heart makes its own de-
sign on you, marks
time, your own
rhythm, you
state it in your stride, ex-
tend it in your line
feel it
& ride
3
& the dance we know of is finally
of the body, that quick
source of it, co-
ordinate, that all the parts are
functioning, as they must, is the
harmony, rhythm, the tone
of the skin & be-
neath it, muscles, com-
ponents of this now breathing
living thing you are, & the music
you would make of yourself. the song
of the dance of the
body, organic
form, take it exactly
where it leads you--
out--
step
by glorious step
Detroit
February 12, 1966
Music by Cecil Taylor
3.1.697 |
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