Funky Butt Jass Dance Hall

Funky Butt Jass Dance Hall

ken burns jazz

started with buddy bolden at
the Funky Butt Dance Hall
it started earthy,
hope it stays there

started with improvisation
and individuality. with deep
deep roots in the blues.
blues, a simple structure, yet
art beyond just skill
cause it’s all about a feeling.

the feeling of a people who
chose to be joyful in a
sorrowful world. a new world,
with new relationships. or was it
so new.

‘what did we do to be so black and blue’

dissonance a way of life
in america. just playing the
natural feelings of a people
we kind of blue, but there’s
a trane a coming.

the shape of jazz to come? huh?
ornette, who is that lonely woman
she should be fine and mellow.
listen to Pres, it’s in the tilt
of his horn. hawk knows, cause
we love you baby, body and soul

listen to buhaina, he got the message.
meet me at the chicken shack
5am breakfast dances, saturday
night fish fries, rent parties
shout and holler, swing low
sweet cadillac, rhythm coming
for to take us back to the
funky butt jass hall.

–tm