Jazz Haiku–Frisking the Whiskers

Frisking the Whiskers

on the street two beat
jump jazz swings the door open
scat cats call us in

 

Jazz Angels (Revised)

K.C. Jazz Angels

For Milton Morris

Bill Basie playing sweet riffs

Swinging “One O’Clock Jump”

12^th Street, Reno Club

Lester Young’s hot tenor sax blowin’

chorus with the Count

Jam,

Jazz,

Swing,

Jazz Angels

Wild jump blues, shake the bandstand

Reefer dances, drifts

like a voodoo blue haze

up from the band.

Charlie Parker, looking for that swing fix

too young to blow

leans over the balcony

digging Lester under a crawdad moon,

blowmanblow.

Woodsheds on stoops,

back alleys, waiting for the nod.

Jam

        Jazz

Swing

Jazz Angels

K.C. Jazz Angels

A memorial to Charlie Parker outside the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, MO.

K.C. Jazz Angels

For Milton

Bill Basie playing sweet riffs

Swinging “One O’Clock Jump”

12^th Street, Reno Club

Lester Young’s sweet tenor sax blowin’

chorus with the Count

Jam,

Jazz,

Swing,

Jazz Angels

Wild jump blues, shake the bandstand

Marijuana smoke dances

drifts from the band

Charlie Parker too young to blow

leans over the balcony

listens to Lester, blowmanblow.

Woodsheds on stoops,

back alleys, waiting for the nod.

Jam

          Jazz

Swing,

Jazz Angels

Yeah, man that was Jazz.