"'Mingus One, Two, and Three.
Which is the image you want the world to see ?'"
Charles Mingus, Beneath the Underdog
Heartstring, Blessed wood
& every moment the thing's made of:
ball of fatback
licked by fingers of fire.
Hard love, it's hard love.
Running big hands down
the upright's wide hips,
rocking his moon-eyed mistress
with gold in her teeth.
Art & life bleed
into each other
as he works the bow.
But tonight we're both a long ways
from the Mile High City,
1973. Here in New Orleans
years below sea level,
I lsten to Pithecanthropus
Erectus: Up & down, under
& over, every which way -
thump, thump, dada - ah, yes.
Wood heavy with tenderness,
Mingus fingers the loom
gone on Segovia,
dogging the raw strings
unwaxed with rosin.
Hyperbolic bass line. Oh, no!
Hard love, it's hard love.
in Yusef Komunyakaa, Neon Vernacular: New and Selected Poems, Wesleyan University Press, 1993
Pithecanthropus Erectus (Atlantic, 1956), 60 ans et pas une ride !
Mingus et ses complices, Mal Waldron et Jackie McLean incendient le bop ; Will Jones tient la baraque sans sourciller mais on sent bien que JR Montrose traine un peu les pieds. En 10 minutes tout est consumé, une nouvelle ère peut commencer.
(Copacetic ? allez voir ici !)
