Jerry Jazz Musician Pledge Drive



SEARCH

  


Subscribe
(or manage your subscriptions)

JJM Newsletter (sample)

Quiz Show! (sample)
Name:
Email:
Format:
Subscribe
Unsubscribe

Tell your friends about us!




TODAY'S ARTISTS


Winard Harper


Winard Harper

___

Drummer Winard Harper is passionate about jazz. "This music is powerful," he says. "It can do a lot of good for people. If they'd spend some time each day listening to it, we would see many changes in the world."



Come Into the Light

Come Into the Light





The EDGE


In Memory Of

J.D. Salinger,

1919 - 2010


*


_________

Think About It


"To some will come a time when change itself is beauty, if not heaven."

- Edwin Arlington Robinson, 1869 - 1935



_________


Today's Gift Idea

Lithographs and Giclees by Barbara Freeman

Chet Baker

 


_________


Recently Published


*

Larry Tye, author of Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend


*

David Robertson, author of W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues

W.C. Handy

St. Louis Blues, by W.C. Handy's Memphis Blues Band


*

If you could have dinner with three people, who would they be?

Among those participating in the twelfth edition of Reminiscing in Tempo: Memories and Opinion are Gary Bartz, John Scofield, Billy Cobham and Esperanza Spalding

Gary Bartz


*

Graham Lock and David Murray, co-editors of Thriving on a Riff: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Literature and Film and The Hearing Eye: Jazz and Blues Influences in African American Visual Art

The Death of Bessie Smith, by Rose Piper


*

In the twenty-seventh edition of Great Encounters, David Robertson, author of W.C. Handy: The Life and Times of the Man Who Made the Blues, tells the story of Handy's first recording session, and his meeting with James Reese Europe

W.C. Handy
*

Marybeth Hamilton, author of In Search of the Blues

Leadbelly


*

Karen Karlitz is the winner of the Jerry Jazz Musician Short Fiction contest. Her story is called "No Thanks"

Karen Karlitz


*

Jazz: Through the Life and Lens of Milt Hinton: An online photo exhibit



Milt Hinton

Laughing At Life, by Milt Hinton


*

Ben Ratliff, author of Coltrane: The Story of a Sound

John Coltrane

Giant Steps


*

Ralph Ellison biographer Arnold Rampersad, on the complex life of the author of Invisible Man

Ralph Ellison


*

In cooperation with The Jazz Image author Lee Tanner, Jerry Jazz Musician presents "Masters of Jazz Photography," this month featuring the work of Jerry Stoll

photo of Pee Wee Russell and Gerry Mulligan by Jerry Stoll


*

Up From New Orleans: Life Before, During and After Katrina -- A conversation with transplanted New Orleans musicians Devin Phillips and Mark DiFlorio

Devin Phillips


*


An Online Story of Jazz in New Orleans, with an introduction by Nat Hentoff

Jelly Roll Morton

New Orleans was a free and easy place, comments by Jelly Roll Morton


*



Now in the Art Gallery

The Art of James Allen



_________

Test your wits! Subscribe to Quiz Show, which is delivered to your desktop every other Friday .



Play Quiz Show

_________


Heroes...We all had them. For years, we have been asking the guests we interview to talk about theirs. You can read them at our Heroes page. Now, we invite you to write about the person you recall being your own childhood hero. All submissions are published...



Willie Mays

_________


Coming Soon

Interviews with Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horne author James Gavin, and Robin D.G. Kelley, author of Thelonious Monk: The Life and Times of an American Genius



...ensure you won't miss any of this (and much more in the works) by subscribing to our newsletter.

_________



"The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet."

- Mark Twain
JJM

 



SPONSORS

Search Now:
In Association with Amazon.com


Help support Jerry Jazz Musician.

Begin your Amazon.com shopping here.

Cool Titles



Judgement

by the Pete Zimmer Quintet

Down or Up




Amazon


KPLU Jazz Radio


Listener supported KPLU Radio of Tacoma, Washington is quite possibly the best jazz station in the country. We are proud to offer their 24 hour jazz programming.

Listen!





 
Jerry Jazz Musician Home Page
Jazz/Jerry Jazz Musician/Poetry by Rolli (Charles Anderson)

Poetry

by Rolli (Charles Anderson)




Red, Orange, Tan and Purple, 1954

by Mark Rothko



____________________________




Poetry by Charles Anderson

Letters

Sometimes the shy miss
with cat eyes
put feather to paper
scratched and restored
worlds of politics
                art
                religion
ten times before lunch
It was like shouting
into cushions
no chance of being heard
by the frightening men
in the next room

Standing by the window
she smiled
at a friend's cyphered letter
smoothed it, took ink
and penning her secret answer
tossed it to the wind

Someone approached the door
She reclined on silk
and waited

 

 

The Zealot

After years and hawk eyes
on parties
     policy
     broad sheets-and-casts
the zealot
dared by a cynic
walked blindfolded for a spell
and
        the ground stayed whole
              comets kept their wings
         nothing rocked
the changeless day-to-day
(whoever sat faraway swivelling
                   in a wig of dust)
except
perhaps
perhaps
from time to time
a penny of bread or gasoline

 

 

Just So

Over crested sweaters
         loose pants
         hats at the proper cant
the collegians
(for the weather was cool)
wore togas of outrage
chic over shoulder
just so

Of course of course
our hollo thunder's mute
to marble halls
      the starved scarred or dead
of oceans away
Opinion sans consequence
is fashionable nothing
hollo hollo hollo

 

 

The Politician

 for ___________ (insert politician's name here)



Mr X the politician
won the public's heart
with a monotone suit
         oratory chrome
and a haircut bought from an out-of-the-way shop for the bargain price of $49.95
He promised lean taxes
                     new cures
                     and the moon (incrementally, by 2016)
In return the public
always gracious, propped him on lawns
                     slapped him on bumpers
                     squeezed him out on brushes
                        breathing freshness in the face of opposition
Most importantly, they dropped him into small boxes conveniently held under their noses

After tally and retallyation
Mr X (who could doubt it) was victor
There were speeches
         confetti-bursts
         breathless ovations
         pickles and sandwiches and cakes (alas, no chocolate)
after which X
dabbing his eyes
strode into his office
locked the door behind him
              and--did what he pleased

The public was, well, unimpressed
         would have rioted, too
if the weather'd been warmer
the tv poorer
if insurrection had, at the time
been held in good taste (they didn't believe it was)

"Next year, Agnes," said one elector to the other
with a firmness verging on sincerity
"I'm voting for Mr Y"

And they nodded all the way home

 

 

The Elector

The elector burned
behind a confidential screen
Party and policy
were nothing to his wool-stopped ears
Any man will do
(as badly as any other)
His choice came down to appearances
From platform and podium
         billboard, poster, and lawn
from broadcasts unending
                       end-on-end
what face would offend him least?

Cross off the crocodilian whiz
            the countess bejowled and scowling; of course
            the oily androgyne
and the unfortunate choice came down
(and down further)
to Mr A
clean, hairless, fat
blubbering for the not-yet-born
and B
mustachioed and grim champion
of the not-quite-dead
And both, naturally, repulsive

The queue shifted left to right
a prickling centipede

Always in a knot, these days
Oh, well-the choice is obvious

 He held a match to the ballot
     dropped it in the box
and whistled

 

 




The Candidate

Baffled to wake in a blind alley?
Well ...

Your sympathies lay with the public, and
                       snored loudly
so I tied your few things
to a broomstick, slipped
it in your arms
and rolled you
clacking down the stairs
                out the door
down and out in the street
where I found you
                     to wait, I suppose
for some callow new mistress

I just thought you should know excites your soul.







About Rolli (Charles Anderson)


 Rolli is the recipient of the 2007 John Kenneth Galbraith Literary Award. His poetry and fiction have appeared in Byline, Grain, and many anthologies.

____________________



The Jerry Jazz Musician Poetry page

Shop for Art & Curiosities Shop for Books Shop for Home and Toys Shop for Apparel & Jewelry Shop for Film Shop for Music Shop for Multimedia
View the items in your shopping basket Help Contact Jerry Jazz Musician





Copyright 1998 - 2004 Jerry Jazz Musician, LLC
Development by JAM & Associates