I am streaming some old Jazz (Mingus, Duke Ellington, The Modem Jazz Quartet) From my phone via bluetooth As I drive To the store When my brother Dave's ghost chimes in: It would sound better coming from a long play stereophonic record, he says.
No doubt, I tell him Surprised that I am not surprised That he is in the car with me.
We call it vinyl now, I tell him I think he nods Though I can't really see him.
You know, he says, it is all about the intervals and the timing. We listen for a while, then he says : Something nobody really understood about me Is that I was a jazz improvisation While I was alive.
I think, this makes no rational sense at all. Though I don't say it outloud, my brother responds: No, it isn't about being rational It's about the intervals and timing.
And suddenly I understand him in a way I didn't when he was alive. I love you, I say But he's gone Jumped to an unexpected note.