It was a wonderful time, with great music. Rahsaan had amazing chops, musical taste, and energy. He was one of the best jazz musicians I've ever heard. He was a musical genius and a musical freak. He could play two or three wind instruments at once, and he could hold one note forever. He could breathe in through his nose and out through his mouth at the same time. And when he was in "cutting" sessions with other jazz greats, he could cut them down, man.
Anyway, the great Rahsaan, who was blind, BTW, would sometimes march through the audience and play a song called "Volunteer Slavery," which had a line, "something that we all know."
The idea was that each of us chooses to enslave ourselves to something or someone. For a jazz musician, I'm sure it was the music.
For me, it's the writing. The idea of writing a real novel, a work of fiction that swings for the fences while it also swings, in the jazz sense.
Anyway, today it's back to work for me. I'm over a horrible stupid computer virus my system had for the last few days, so it's time to hit it again. As my son would say, it's not going to write itself.
Back to volunteer slavery, something that we all know.
Wish me luck. I'm humming Rahsaan's song as I open the file and start to write.
-- Roger
(Links:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_0UE7wjFYA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tiI2ZHmxPPo&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Liy6TQ8FLR4&feature=related
© Copyright 2011, Roger R. Angle
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