Goodbye Pork Pie Hat by Charles Mingus
This jam was posted by 48 people
but neven was first
Suitably elegaic. Mingus's farewell to Lester Young.
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well, or we could try bridging the gap. gotta admit to a fondness for the rahsaan roland kirk version too, because i's a word lady. "put all of his soul into a tenor saxophone, had a way of talking, was a language all his own...lester young is playing what he's feeling."
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This was difficult to jam due to restrictions. Nobody cares that it was renamed "Theme for Lester Young" so it's still usually called "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat". It is a classic, a standard, covered by all the great and the good. The first time I heard it was on "Wired" by Jeff Beck. I thought it was one of Jeff's, until I realised via Joni Mitchell, that it was a Charlie Mingus number. I remember wondering if Mingus was originally spelled the normal Scottish way (Menzies) until I spotted his race roots. Duh. Unusually for me, the original surpassed the one I happened to hear first. I let Beck go, & have grown to appreciate the myriad colourings of the chord progressions, the steadfast bass pacing, the breath-long phrasing, the way it relaxes me, like a jazz infusion. I became Pavlovianly relective, instantly chilled man. I used to unhunch, sip a freshly brewed strong coffee, &inhale a cigarette, & reset or reboot myself to this. Today, it is the same, but sadly without the cigarette.
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I've been listening to jazz all morning, preparing to make this drive back to Austin.
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