for lil hardin (10)

for lil hardin
1898 -- 1971

what was it about jellyroll’s
playing that got to u, lil?

was it his abrupt breaks or

stop-time passages, how he

swung the eighth & sixteenth

notes, or his break-neck

tempo? u said his piano rocked,

the floor shivered & the people

swayed when he played, while

he beat out a double rhythm

with his foot on the loud
pedal. what did you expect

from the man who claimed to

have invented jazz? he probably

knew he gave u a bit of a thrill,

even amazed u a little bit, but

when u threw rachmaninoff's

prelude in c sharp minor on

him, just to give him a little

sumpin/sumpin. i’m sure he

didn’t know what to think.

but he showed u something
that day in jones’ music store

on chicago’s southside, & u

started embellishing those

sheet music scores u showed

off to sell, jellyroll-like & with

yr own ideas. yep, ole jellyroll

coaxed the kitty out the bag.
that little taste he gave u grew

into a mighty thirst. a thirst

that took u to the de luxe café

where u were conscripted to

play in sugar johnnie's new

orleans creole orchestra.

yo mama didn’t like it one bit!

didn’t want u on beale street

or anywhere near the jazz,

the drugs or the whores. but

$22.50 a week was more than

she made. thus did needmo’
assuage her doubts. enter hot

miss lil who played like a man

but dressed like a sunday school

teacher. from sugar johnnie to

king oliver at the dreamland

where u met destiny in too-
country-for–chicago louis armstrong,
bought him some new clothes,
made him cut the bangs out of
his hair &finally married him.
cajoled himaway from king oliver
into astellar career of his own.
uhelped make him, little brown
girl; booked his gigs, wrote his

music & led his band while he

pranced & clowned on the band

stand. u were among those

featured players on some of the

first jazz ever recorded. u even

wrote some of those first great

tunes. but true to yr own vision,

u had to leave louis, not so much

because of his infidelities or his

capricious ways, but to become

the most prominent woman in

early jazz; to lead yr own bands,

male, mixed & all female, to sing,

do musicals, write, conduct, stretch.

but that didn’t keep you from

following his career like a

hound on a scent until he died.

i guess you got lonely for him

because you followed him out

that same exit seven weeks later.

its just as well, lil, for though

you have carved for yrself a place

in the history of jazz, yr rightful

& significant place, anyone

looking for louis will find u close

by, a footnote to his towering

greatness.

©Joseph McNair;2010