Wednesday, December 26, 2007
(1:10 AM) | Brad:
Christmas Night Jazz
The final hours of Christmas are my favorite. It's a time you can go out for a walk, or hit one of the local bars that are open, and run into those people who have likely been stuck with family all day ... but who have survived. It's after 10, and they've snuck out, or have been given an hour reprieve. And, here they are, beat down and spent, accosted by a seasonal weariness that draws them away from those they love and pulls them closer to strangers. The "silent night" of Christmas is too often mistaken for Christmas Eve. It's not until after the screaming of labor, or of in-laws, or of nieces & nephews, though, that we find silent at all holy.I hope you've found some silence today. If not literal silence, I hope you've found something worth listening to that didn't ask more than its share of your soul & sanity. Something like, say, a good jazz collection. Such as the one I promised you last week, from one of my favorite CDs, Charlie Parker & the Stars of Modern Jazz at Carnegie Hall (Christmas 1949).
First, there's Bud Powell and his trio going to work in "All God's Children Got Rhythm".
After that, Miles Davis kicks into gear with the other All Stars on a raucous version of "Move".
Then, Ms. Sarah Vaughn steps to the mic and belts out "Mean To Me".
At this point, the audience had to think ... Charlie Parker hasn't even stepped on stage, and already we've forgotten everything we hate about this bloody holiday. In fact, if anything, thank Christ for the holiday, because it gave some big-pocketed promoter an excuse to pull this show together and possibly even somebody the rationale to buy me a ticket. Ah, but they see Bird take the stage, and unlike last time they saw him, he looks lucid & sober, and they know now that the show was set to become special. And perhaps it was only until after Parker's solo in "Ko-Ko" that many in attendance would find warrant to say to nobody in particular, to strangers and themselves alike, Merry Christmas, indeed.
