Jazz
What's so unique in the music called Jazz
Is the spontaneity no other music has
Without spaces and bars, the artists succeeded
No written notes were musically needed
Improvisations coming straight from the heart
From artists like Armstrong, who were there near the start
Jazz royalty, Duke Ellington and Mr. Count Basie
Pianoed feelings in sound, both catchy and racy
Ellington wrote "Black Brown and Beige"
A musical history of torment and rage
To show how skin color neatly provided
Bigots the means to keep people divided
"No more oppression", Jazz artists cried out
"Demands for our freedom will never die out"
"Strange Fruit", Billie Holliday sang out in pain
Jim Crow's bigotry was an American Stain
Charlie Parker flying high, known as the Bird
His message would soar when his sax was heard
He defied all convention, his music exploded
And showed all of us that bounds were outmoded
Jazz was the outlet for pent-up emotion
No wonder it's aired with such depth and devotion
Those musical artists paid more then their dues
Jazz sprang from their feelings of sadness and blues
By Stan Cooper...1/23/01 graphic by Don Hunt
Poetry by Stan Cooper
Read 544 times
Written on 2007-02-24 at 13:38
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