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J. S. Bach c. 1725/via Wikimedia Commons
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Old J.S.— Running Through the Changes
…………………………(Prelude, Violin Partita III in E, BWV 1006)
So long ago, before Ornette Coleman,
Coleman Hawkins, John Coltrane—
all those free spirits running up and down
the alphabet of jazz, there was old
J.S. Bach, running through the changes.
I always picture him, and hear him,
at the pipe organ in Tomas Kirsche
all by himself, after the service.
I sit still and nervous way in the back
so he won’t know that I am there
just as deluded as some Charlie
Parker wannabe, clutching his dog-
eared Omnibook, trying to get a hook
into the great bird’s way of playing,
absent anything original to say. Fittingly,
it’s Sunday, I take up my clarinet, close
as I can get to music for fiddle, but in the
middle ground between mind and muscles,
joints, now noticeably arthritic, I sit beside
him on his big bench in Leipzig and watch
and listen and try to keep my right hand up
with his an octave higher. He goes slowly
but my keyboard skills are miniscule and I
struggle even though just one note changes
at a time after each successive dozen, but
waiting at the end of this skein of broken
chords, is heaven’s door. I huff along as best
I can just behind J.S. whose feet hold still
above the pedaled floor. It’s not that kind
of piece, though his white wigged noggin
nods the beats ever so slightly, just around
the corner and down the block from Minton’s
up in Harlem, two shows nightly.
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Joel Glickman taught music including jazz history and the jazz band at Northland College, Ashland Wisconsin, from 1974 until retirement in 2017, where he has resumed teaching about jazz again, part time. He has written and published poetry over a wide range of subjects. Primarily a classical clarinetist and folk singer-song writer and banjo player, his jazz and saxophone skills lag behind these. He resides in Ashland with wife Susan and their Bichon, Madeline.
He can be reached via email at [email protected]
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Listen to Hilary Hahn play Bach’s Violin Partita No. 3 in E Major, BMV 1006 [Sony]
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