Friday, February 6, 2009

Energy Kick

What put the pep in "Greensleeves"?


Freddie Hubbard knew: "Coltrane wasn't playing so far out then," said the trumpeter, of the 1961 Africa/Brass sessions, as reported by Ashley Kahn in THE HOUSE THAT TRANE BUILT: The Story of Impulse Records. "But he had so much energy, man, because him and Eric [Dolphy] used to drink honey out of the jar. They would eat those sunflower seeds and raisins. They were on an energy kick. I said, 'Man, you're going to get diabetes or something, man! You drinking raw honey?" [Pause.] I mean, that's right. We shall, therefore, rest our theories. There shall be no more theories. Our big-bottomed poets will quiet and quiet, too, will the poets of small bottoms be. Let (X) = "Greensleeves". Let "Greensleeves" = Horn in Sky. The honeybee leaves a pollen print in the history of Jazz on impulse! Praise Song for the Trane; Praise Trane.

11 comments:

mark wallace said...

Some day soon, a microbrew company is going to bring out Raw Honey Ale. A thick golden lager, probably.

DAN / DANIEL GUTSTEIN said...

How about Bedtime Mellowing Lager?

------------------------BA

mark wallace said...

With spoonfuls of raw honey? You bet.

DAN / DANIEL GUTSTEIN said...

I used to think that drinking honey was -- unusual -- but now I see it as the way to complete artistic fulfillment. Then, and only then, does one drink the mellowing lager before bed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------BA

mark wallace said...

Some people drink honey all their lives, and some people just have bad lives.

DAN / DANIEL GUTSTEIN said...

One could hate life, or one could hate honey. Me? I'm sensible. I hate life. No sense in hating honey. What'd honey ever do to me, raw, fresh from the jar? ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------BA

mark wallace said...

Talk about honey, jars, mellowing lager, okay. Talk about life, not okay.

DAN / DANIEL GUTSTEIN said...

The bee takes from the flower and gives to the comb.

The man takes from the comb and gives to the jar.

You see where I'm headed, don't you? Oh, I think you do.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------BA

mark wallace said...

Shut up and give me the jar.

DAN / DANIEL GUTSTEIN said...

I figured it would be "pass the shine" beside the still ... or ... "pass the needle" in the opium den, but not for Dolphy to pass the honey in Rudy Van Gelder's studio in Jersey.

Let's emulate Trane. Yeah, let's buy honey and improvise!

--BA

MIRA NILLSON said...

Tee hee.