Thursday, May 31, 2018

sextet: organix trio + heart of the ghost. creative alliance, baltimore 5/18/18


two saxophones
communicating
strange new
species of bird
emerging
from behind mountain
sandstone cathedrals
to ascend above
the clouds
and speak
the heart language
one to the other–
playful and forlorn

two basses
and two drum kits
descend into
low pacific depths
where they whale sing
basses with bows
and drums coaxing
high voiced calls
from cymbal
swirl manipulations

birds and whales
heights and depths
a sextet tracing
the outlines of forms
hidden within
this combustible world






Tuesday, May 29, 2018

organix trio: creative alliance, baltimore 5/18/18


bass knows to return
to the tonic 
he comes back to it
as though his lines
are magnetized
flying through the air
in a spinning
diving return
like a dragonfly
above a pond

drummer accelerates
each hit
picking up force
causing the bass
to alter now
into a five-note
metal and wood figure
then bass lets
the drummer
go solo

each rhythmic phrase
sketched by the sticks 
divides and subdivides
like zeno’s arrow
forever moving toward
its mark
and forever
breaking into fractions of
the original beat

he loses a drumstick
bandleader jamaal
hands it back to him
drummer pops and cracks
more lightning
on the kit and stops
the song over
he removes his hat
wipes the sweat
from his forehead


Photo by Dan Hanrahan

Friday, May 25, 2018

heart of the ghost: creative alliance, baltimore 5/18/18

emerging from silence
the bass begins 
a dark blessing
curving low
responded to
by speaking drums
cymbals breaking air molecules
into wobbling spinning discs
then enters the saxophone
the player shoeless
he completes the triangle
with flutter ascension riffs
and hello punctuations
phrases that pose questions
only you can identify
the music has gone from
sound-gap-silence-sound
to a flowing river
the fish finning below
trace the story
told by the
saxophone
bass
and
drums


















Photo by Dan Hanrahan