Music to listen while you read: "Blue in Green"
There was a place I once visited when I lived on the outskirts of Seattle. I remember dressing up real nice, sleek black leather shoes with black slacks and a double breasted coat to cover it all up. I held the hand of the girl I was dating at the time as rain splashed off her thick coat. We headed toward this place that had no front entrance, where the line began out back in the alley and met at an inconspicuous door. You could hear snare drums lightly beating out a rhythm for a piano that sat somewhere within that door, beckoning for whomever passed to come in and just take a seat. This was all a long time ago, but whenever I remember moments like these, where the main attraction is the music, it’s always impossible to see the memories in anything but an altered state. This is a world where nothing was what it seemed, and thats how everyone liked it. This is the world of Cool Jazz .
Me and the girl I was dating at the time saw Lou Rawls, a jazz and blues king that seemed like the coolest guy in the room, even though he was 70 years old. But who am I kidding, he was the coolest guy in the room, with his black tie and dark blue blazer. I wanted to talk like him, sing like him, I wanted to be him. There was one song I remember him singing "Something Stirring in My Soul," and boy did my soul stir.
After the concert I hungered for more. I ran amuck through all the greats, Miles Davis, John Coltrane and the gritty Louis Armstrong, to name a few. But it wasn't all about the music either. There was something greater that came from a friendship with these musicians, it was a lifestyle. My movements became a little more carefree, my constant need to move around and do things like children do was gone. I could watch the rain for hours or spend what seemed like an eternity without saying a word, but at the same time speaking my mind all the while. It was a world where putting on some slacks and a tie wasn't out of the ordinary, where opening the door for a girl was the first thing on your mind and when you danced, her knees quivered.
I'm not saying you'll instantly be a cool cat like Lou Rawls, speaking with that classy voice into his mic while a 92 year old man with a SoHo fashion sense played him a tune. All I'm trying to say is that this music is another world, made for a place where the clouds are a bit gloomy and maybe you have to wear a few more layers than usual. But God, it is classy. I have never felt as cool as I did when I walked through the rain in my double breast, holding the hand of a classy looking girl, heading toward a jazz club. Even though I live in Arizona now, where classic blues and jazz is a bit hard to find, when that rain starts coming down, it never felt so good to feel so blue.
Oh and if your ever in Seattle, go to Jazz Alley on 6th Avenue and Lenora. Just don't forget your double breast.
Some new(old) musicians to discover:
Miles Davis
John Coltrane
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Muddy Waters
Billie Holiday
Duke Ellington
Billie Holiday