There once was a time when jazz lived and kids dreamt of being horn players even Miles Davis. A twelve year old played Sophisticated Lady to audience of adults. It was long after bedtime but Booker’s mama couldn’t resist sharing her son’s talent. He woke and still in his underwear wailed Duke Ellington’s melody.
Booker’s aunts and uncles cried with delight.“Booker keep playing man. That horn is going to take you places.”
It was 1965. John Coltrane was on the radio and Civil Rights were on folks minds. Born and grown in Indianapolis, Booker was raised on stories of Count Basie and even Duke himself coming to town. His family loved music and especially his mother. It may have been his mother that got him playing horn. He never said, but he loved doing Sophisticated Lady and it makes you wonder.
In the 70s he played in bands and wore platform shoes, and in the 80’s he moved to New York City, played jazz on the subway and at the World Trade Towers. He was always broke but never comprised. He was a jazz musician…
Now, my wife and I sit in an upscale bar, in a small town, in rural Indiana. Booker teaches my wife clarinet, and we love to hear him play. Every Saturday night he does two hours of standards at Urban Cultured Winery. Wow a real New York City jazzman right here in Anderson, Indiana. Jazz died a long time ago and the Twin Towers are gone, but Booker’s horn still sounds like 1982.
The tone holds the nuance of decades on the road, and though, the bar is half empty, the music flows into the street. Passer-byes pause as they surprisingly encounter something real. You know there is nothing really real anymore. I watch the expression on his face as he belts out Sophisticated Lady. I sense a grimace, and a joy salted with pain. It is just enough pain to make me believe, and I am humbled. This may be the last jazz musician. My wife takes a sip of wine, smiles, and a bittersweet loss wrenches my heart. Booker’s horn ascends on appregiated chord, and the night goes on forever.
Dedicated to Gordon Brooks
Thanks for reading. Now hear my wife and I jam with Gordon Brooks “ths last jazz musician”. Follow this link now https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AtL3M_ggBc
Written by Brett Wiley
Thank you, my friend. Well said.
Let’s go to that winery next time I’m in town.