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Minor Bird
I met this jazz saxophone player under the Waban Arch Bridge. I was on the other side of the river, shooting the bridge and the old mill upriver (see here) when I noticed him getting his horn out of its case on the other side of the river, right under the bridge. Soon he was playing with a sound that reminded my of Sonny Rollins. It particularly reminded me of Autumn Nocturn, the first track on Silver City.
Man! I hastily made my way to the other side of the river and to the platform under the bridge. He was still there and still playing in the dusk light under the bridge and he still sounded like Sonny.
He told me that he is called "Minor Bird". "The Minor Bird?", I asked, and he agreed.
I asked whether he every played anywhere where I could hear him. He said he hadn't had a jazz gig for many years. People just don't love jazz like that anymore. His day job is answering the phone for one of those companies that sells alarms for old and infirm people to signal that they are in trouble. I pointed to my camera and said that myday job was software, but that I'd like a pro gig, too. So we shared a moment in the sunset light under the bridge.
One never knows, do one?
Man! I hastily made my way to the other side of the river and to the platform under the bridge. He was still there and still playing in the dusk light under the bridge and he still sounded like Sonny.
He told me that he is called "Minor Bird". "The Minor Bird?", I asked, and he agreed.
I asked whether he every played anywhere where I could hear him. He said he hadn't had a jazz gig for many years. People just don't love jazz like that anymore. His day job is answering the phone for one of those companies that sells alarms for old and infirm people to signal that they are in trouble. I pointed to my camera and said that myday job was software, but that I'd like a pro gig, too. So we shared a moment in the sunset light under the bridge.
One never knows, do one?
If not now, when?
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Comments
I really like the second one. They way his tilting head parallels the lines in the pic
Thanks for sharing,
Steve
exciting catch huh?
A single photograph can tell an entire story and bring back a multitude of memories.
After I posted this, I found out that there is a Minor Bird reference that I didn't know about at the time. It a Robert Frost poem, particularly apt.
Poem lyrics of A Minor Bird by Robert Frost.
I have wished a bird would fly away,
And not sing by my house all day;
Have clapped my hands at him from the door
When it seemed as if I could bear no more.
The fault must partly have been in me.
The bird was not to blame for his key.
And of course there must be something wrong
In wanting to silence any song.