Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Sync or Swing

It's not a secret history,
the roots of jazz in ancient call-
response and complex, syncopated
drumwork. One fact calls for note:
the law said slaves who drummed should swing.
Plantations had to improvise

their entertainment. This improv
tradition in our history
keeps keeping on. His parent's swing-
band records sound the call
from classic labels like Blue Note,
or maybe just the living syncope

of his heart. He syncopates
to traffic rhythm, improvises.
Auto horns can sound a note
like brass. Despite the history,
there's music in the warning calls
of cops who stand at corners swinging

their batons. Each city swings
to its peculiar syncopation:
every urban siren calls
for loving and unique improv
that's rooted in its history,
a snowflake-special chain of notes.

He's got the rhythm, got the notes,
got the soul. Just hear him swing.
He's not weighed down by history,
but warps it, taut and syncopated,
drawing in the weft, improved
with every riff he can recall.

The audience can feel the call:
they cheer him on at every note.
He's off into improvisation
backed up by the big-band swing,
while feet that dance in syncopation
stir the dust of history.

You ought not to call him a one-note
Johnny: he's swinging, not sinking
all thanks to an improvised history.

Available! High-Voltage Lines, Knocking from Inside

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