for gerry mulligan
(1927 --1996)
miles davis is one who writes songs when he plays.
gerry mulligan
yardbird invited u to jam
u played & it was on – hot damn,
a white, crew cut, bebop junkie
who surfaced without his monkey
out of the fifties & bedlam
with talent intact & then, bam,
a gig with miles, a new “i am,”
the birth of the cool (right on key)
& west coast jazz.
composer, arranger, goddamn
jeru! how did u ever cram
so much in yr bari – funky
atop the polls forty spunky
years nurturing de bop sh’ blam
& west coast jazz.
©Joseph McNair; 2010
u played & it was on – hot damn,
a white, crew cut, bebop junkie
who surfaced without his monkey
out of the fifties & bedlam
with talent intact & then, bam,
a gig with miles, a new “i am,”
the birth of the cool (right on key)
& west coast jazz.
composer, arranger, goddamn
jeru! how did u ever cram
so much in yr bari – funky
atop the polls forty spunky
years nurturing de bop sh’ blam
& west coast jazz.
©Joseph McNair; 2010
I don't know much about Gerry Mulligan, but from reading this it seems as if he was a nobody, someone then asked him to play with them and he took off. Skyrocketing into playing with the best like Miles Davis. Soon after that it seems as if his career took off.
ReplyDeleteGerry Mulligan rocks!
ReplyDelete