For the culture of the United State has become the antithesis of its native form of jazz. The corporate hologram is like a deadly addiction that serves to destroy the creative spirit: Consumerism, a form of addiction"usurping the experience of ecstatic novelty as it sells the falsehood that it delivers one to its sublime precincts.
Conversely, bebop and free jazz are ecstatic novelty writ large in sonic waves.
John Coltrane reported that the conception and creation of his timeless masterpiece, "A Love Supreme" ended his addiction to drugs and alcohol. This soul-reviving suite should be made the suggested soundtrack of every drug and alcohol rehab unit in the United States -- if not played on a repeating loop at every gas station, convenience store, and shopping mall on the planet.
The CD player shuffles and Monk's "Epistrophy" arrives, this version in the company of Coltrane. My rage is spent"for now. Of course, the tenor of the times will replenish it in abundance. But, at this moment, Monk and "Trane shout encouragement from the real world, the only world there is -- the realm of the endless now.
Rouse yourself, they insist. -- Let the impossibility of your situation free you from pretense and presumption. As is the case with a bebop jam session, you don't know where you're going next"but, in reality, neither does anyone else -- no matter what they claim to the contrary. For this reason -- all of existence is Coltranesque.
We are free.
We only delude ourselves into believing that we know what's coming next. Bebop informs us the unexpected is what's coming next; that, in life, what moves us most is often unplanned, and sorrow can drop away like a falling leaf and be whirled down the avenue in an improvisational dance with the rifting wind.
We are free.
All is Coltrane.
The tyrants will topple.
Coltrane will remain.
Phil Rockstroh is a poet, lyricist and philosopher bard living in New York City. He may be contacted at: Email address removed. Visit Phil's website: http://philrockstroh.com/ or at FaceBook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000711907499
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