Tuesday, September 06, 2005


For one moment the music faltered. The soul hesitated, ears straining to pick up the vibrations that had guided the heartbeat. Souls have ears. And souls have hearts. This soul shuffled to the syncopations sounding in its world, the riffs blending one into the other, seamlessly, like waves of a gentle sea: Louis Armstrong's trumpet, notes swirling by so fast they left no time for breaths, the roundabout loll of Jack Teegarden's trombone, sounding like a friendly old dog coming up to lick your face, the tinkling of Jelly Roll Morton's fingers on the piano keys, tasting to the ears indeed like jelly on a roll, King Olver directing it all from out of the shadows. But now it was silent...

With footsteps echoing the way they never did while the music played, the soul strolled over to the center of its universe, cranked the gramophone handle, and smiled satisfaction as the primal sound of jazz filled the realm again.

Story #276

This story is dedicated to the wonderful city of New Orleans.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

seems like you can't get your mind of the news either. lots of jazz gone now :-(

nice story, thanks!

admin said...

Indeed a very nice story. It was sad to see the street where Jazz was born in New Orleans being under the water. The will fix the city but many people were lost. Makes you wonder if there is such a thing as destiny.

Tom & Icy said...

Play it again, Sam

LiVEwiRe said...

You are right about the souls and the music. The souls will not be quieted forever; they seldom are. Thank you for your spin on things.

Cori said...

sigh.

-G.D. said...

Tapping my feet to your beat.

Anonymous said...

Great synaesthesia.

Mikki Marshall said...

i can hear it slow, smooth rythmn

i toast that city, it is in my heart.

Jamie Dawn said...

I can hear it and feel it in advance.

Courtney said...

A great musically moving story.

Cooper said...

Scary. No maybe haunting is the word I was looking for.

Indeterminacy said...

Thank you everyone for saying such nice things about this story. I know and love the music I wrote about well, but I also know I come nowhere close to describing it. I was in New Orleans in the early 90's for a week, an unforgettable wonderful week.

M.P. said...

Sorry this all had to end as it did!!!

Doug The Una said...

It is a beautiful city. You did it justice. Poor city. I wonder what will be left.

Doug The Una said...

It is a beautiful city. You did it justice. Poor city. I wonder what will be left.