Stephen C. Middleton
It was so stuffy, Thelonious
It was so stuffy, Thelonious
For those of us
Who hear half tone
And thought
Who cherish
A different sort of dance
They looked askance, but
It was so stuffy, Thelonious
Until you took it by the throat
With fractured cascades
At angles to glissando
With pared down
Chopstick brilliance
Then Tony Williams
Derailing the smooth running beat
Double stop
And back on track
At speed
Shrapnel and splinters
Martial rolls choked off
A turnabout
No more solos by rote
(The horns play the theme throughout -
The action roiling below)
It was so stuffy, Thelonious
And in your wake
(A hard act to follow)
Don Pullen quickfire builds the dance
Electric, split second
Stratospheric shards and slivers
Rocks on the left
Leaping on the right
The kernel
The piano trio
With Tony Williams and Gary Peacock
Letting in light
At angles to standards
Fractured serenades
It was so stuffy, Thelonious
Your touch,
Tentative, triumphant
Reverberative
A blade through blandness
Still means so much.
Thelonious Monk, piano (1917-1982)
Tony Williams, drums (1945-1997)
Don Pullen, piano (1944-1995)
Gary Peacock, double bass (born 1935)
Page(s) 59
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