September in Georgia's passionate land

September is a magnificent time in Georgia. The lush green of the giant pine trees, the flowers showing up in this tender autumn, well all of that is so good and doggone strong. When I was a little kid growing up in south Georgia, even though I was a "townie" I enjoyed going out in the country and seeing the crops and all the good things that make Georgia a good full of fine flavor place. One grand memory was being in town on Saturday and hearing some old guys playing harmonica or harp as the sleek pundits say. Later on in life I got heavily into listening to blues masters, like the sizzlin' Sonny Boy Williamson II. Lord, how he could play that harmonica. The way his sound resonated and entranced a soul was so immensely powerful. Such a profound dose of art. Again I say, Lord what a great musical time this is here in September in the history-laden state of Georgia.

Renoir, Calder and intricate, fine music

Today the art juggernaut has gripped me again. I studied two marvelous prints I have in my place. One is a great soft shimmering work of the man named Renoir. The other is a clever, mysterious kind of piece. It is an A. Calder of the 60's, I believe. Eating good peach ice cream and staring and really studying these works of art with their intricate machinations is a profound experience sort of like reading a great book from the wonderful man from South Carolina, Mr. Pat Conroy. Art, good books and jazz and blues are marvelous for the human mind.

Atlanta, UGA, Sinatra, Fashion, Good Life

Today, the one known as me got back into the jazz life's somewhat mainstream. I got really happy listening to the beautiful chords of the great tenor saxophone men, the immortal John Coltrane and Stan Getz, the ballad master musical painter. The sexy, sleek magnifico tenor sounds were so wrapped up in a pulsing, pleasing passionate package that it was a walk on the great side, a monumental trip into the delicious world of musical art. Also, I got into listening to the timeless fascinating totality of sound that is the elegant artist Mr. Sinatra of the famed whoop it so high NYC area and of course a conveyor of good times just about all over this big land. Also, it hit me how cool and at times scalding hot music can so heavily influence the fashion world. It is amazing how many times, the power folks in the design world came up with joltin' just right clothing looks because of the highly influential conundrum that is the sparkling set of musical libations coming from the total tonic musical magic that is blues, jazz, gospel and the like. When I was a young guy I got a kick watching the wistful quickly changing bright colors of good fashion over at the University of Georgia, but then later when I came to the wowee land of metro Atlanta I was also knocked out by the great total look fashions of this so cool, boppin' and invigorating place. Let's all have super good times today. To paraphrase old Rabelais, enjoy man, enjoy.

Dancin' and prancin' good 'ole Athens

Once upon a time there was a good 'ole town called Athens, Georgia. So many blips of time ago (when I was there in the early and mid 1960s) there was a ferocious yet innocent sleek ambiance about the nice so kickingly good town. Going to the big ga. dawgs games were really something else. I had a class with a sensational defensive player named George Patton. The man named Patton had true style. He was one of the first guys coached by a defensive footballin' genius named Erk Russell. This joyous town knew what fun was all about. The games with their bright-colored outfitted men and women in the old stands...well they were a real lark. But Lord after the gridiron battles the sounds of the wild would surely come forth. The boogeyin' down at places like the grand Allen's on the historic street known as Prince was something fierce and right on to see. Nothing like those doggone bright green madras coats, the girls in the a-line fashions and of course the tons of weejun shoes. The main kind of music then was a brilliant whoop it up tonic of tough, strutting blues. Nothing like good Georgia memories. For a long time, they'll stick right there with you.

Powerhouse piano, glory gospel, shiny jazz

Big pulsating chords coming from a good piano soul...well they're so powerful so stirring, getting your heart smiling like you were a little kid again. It is interesting if you really get yourself into it, how the sleek overwhelming drive of so much good piano jazz is so incredibly gospel-based. Last night I was digging the punctuating lusty sounds of one fine keyboard man, the wise one named Junior Mance. He was backed by the marvelous Ron Carter on the bass and Mickey Roker on drums. The sound was so provocative, so kickin' and truly right. The sound of strong gospel pops up in the straight ahead classic work of moderns also like the powerhouse himself, the famed Art Blakey on drums. His gospel is that of a man who knows how to fire the musical strongman cars up really smokin' and sensually vivid. When a soul hears Blakey on the drums along with the soaring master, Mr. Freddie Hubbard on the trumpet and the total sax man Mr. Wayne Shorter on his bossman tenor then buddy all is so right on with this great big wild man music world of ours. Atlanta has so many good sounds and one fine thing is the fact men and women of the south know how to really get it together in their enjoyment of true strong music with its overtones of blues and big gospel and the mesmerizing sphere that is the song of the wild, yes man I'm speaking of jazz.

That 'ole Georgia raw Atlanta sound

A long time ago I went to the University of Georgia in Athens. I went so wild over the music there because there was some great stuff. Some guys were already talking about the Atlanta sound, a kind of raw hot, sizzling brand of music that would get in you and turn you into a firebrand of a dancer even if you figured you were not. Lord, the first time I heard a live show by the late great James Brown, well my, my it was so raw so right. It made the merry town of Athens get up and dance like the good wild folks of north Georgia know how to do. I loved the big tough guy sound but most of all it hit me one day that this place Georgia was so packed full of tone and superior music history. Well anyway it made me swell up with total pride. The thunderous raging violent beat, the cascading downright stompin' blue chords. well the magnitude of that good, 'ole awesome sound could make a grown man bawl. So many of us when we went across the pond still remembered the smokin' strutting soul of the great music guys of this good dawgstate, this place we call Georgia. I got into the word business because I wanted to try to capture some of these strong musical magic times and put some words together and try hard to tell how much this powerful music really means. Memories of wild music stick deep inside the soul for a lifetime.

The bliss of exciting piano jazz art

The keyboard sound is so exciting and filled with tremendous energy. A few nights ago I listened to some old King Cole Trio (some people don't realize Nat King Cole was also a fantastic piano man) and also some totally fascinating keyboard jazz from the great man from Canada, Oscar Peterson. This kind of brashness and sleek almost ultra-percussive stylin' is just a wild and wooley cool breeze if there ever was one. Kind of reminds me of the happy dipsy times long ago when I was in my teen years playing with a group. Two guitar buddies played some sizzling licks with the hardnosed impishness that basically strong vivid south Georgian fellas know how to do. Then when I heard Mr. Cole and Mr. Peterson the other night it just brought so many tons of wonderful memories. A friend once said I said the words oh my goodness and wonderful too many times but really sometimes those regular words tell the truly real story better than all the usual claptrap or mundane psycho babble. The boundless energy of good music helps so many of us. One friend of mine digs country sounds like those of Mr. Haggard and Mr. Cash. I try to stretch my brain capacity as much as possible because it feels so slick, yes indeed. So good. I read the brilliant prose of great wordsmiths like Elmore Leonard and V. Nabokov because they always have a tendency to remind me of the importance of tone. Yeah, it's not what you say cause sometimes it all comes back to the sound the human has. In other words what kind of vigorous jazz chorus are you creating. The weather is cool tonight and I am full of bliss knowing things are so good.