Twin Cities Choruses Poem by Daniel Brick

lst Chorus: A jam session saves me
from prolonged stress.

Useless hands - they droop
at my side. In a dream - No,
a nightmare. Again and again,
I witness this loss of dexterity.
Useless hands, and myself a jazz musician!
Who are we? Say it loud and clear:
"We are jazz musicians. We shine at night,
from 6 pm to 6 am, we shine! "

My 60+ years old hands, wrinkled, gnarled,
blessed, hold my bass, I twirl it around
while plucking out a rhythmic phrase -
What talent! Don't waste it, buddy-boy.
This belongs to more than just you.

2nd Chorus

OK, I'm as ready
as I'll ever be...
What's the point of all these points
of view? Let's settle on a mission,
say, teaching everyone in both cities
to sing the blues choruses, or at least
hold the beat while they sit. How can
you jazz cats feel the jazz current
and not be electrified!

OK, the set begins. I quiet the noise inside,
I muffle the noise outside, I turn it all into MUSIC, yeah!

3rd Chorus

They say, You're hot! You're on a roll.
Don't blow it. Keep focused on the music
moving from one musician to another.
Each of you makes something unique
and precious out of the same tired tune.
It's the alchemy of jazz, transformations
abound, we make and use up 4 or 5 souls a night.

The night moves at its own pace, it is sometimes
transfixed by the music, and opens it cavernous
jaws and swallows everything with rabelaisian
gusto. The show goes on in darkness, the musicians
create a stage and an auditorium with their eyes closed.
Everyone is a performer! All of us make this holy racket.
The musicians, the crowd, the invisible Angels of Swing,
and the demons working their way back to grace
by losing their bad impulses in the beat.