Here is a two-hour drawing that demonstrates how pitifully inadequate two hours can be when attempting true-blue illustration. But mission accomplished: the artist learned more about the intricacies of the tenor saxophone. The next ones will be better.
it started with a phone call from a dear friend of mine
she knew i was broke
and she’d seen an ad about a study
otherwise healthy m/f over 50
suffering from nocturnal leg or foot cramps
participants may receive up to $600
well, i got all over that
called them and answered personal questions
verified a cramp frequency of 4x/wk
they wanted me there 6am
near 48th st & baseline
and here is where the plot thickens
first: it was a screening
get through the screening & you get $25
if they don’t use you, that’s all the $ you get
second: public transportation
does not get anyone from central phx to 48th/baseline
that early in the am
but: i had a bicycle
and with my bike could get on the 4:52am central/osborn lightrail
and get off 44th/washington at 5:19am about 5.5mi away as the crow flies
so: alarm set for 4:20am
up & at em shuffle out the door & unlock the bike
and here is where the plot curdles
the bike was parked by my brother’s front door
his dog barked at my noise and brian grabbed his baseball bat
“GET the FUCK aWAY from HERE!!!” brian shouted at the intruder
“hey, brian, it’s me–
i’m getting my bike–
the study, remember?”
“oh okay” and then mollified muttering
i secured the lock to the frame & rolled off
and found the bike chain was off the rails
greasyfingered it back on
(astonishing given my lack of mechanical aptitude)
and got to the station platform timely
got off timely too
right on the minute with 41 minutes to go about 5.5 miles
or so i thought
48th street abruptly turned into an industrial facility
backtracked & tried 52nd st–no dice there either
backtracked and got onto priest drive, a mile off course
got there signed in forty minutes late
waited about forty more minutes
yielded my identification and answered personal social-security-number questions
such as: which of these phone numbers was your previous phone number?
such as: what state does your ex-wife live in, of these three choices?
such as: what month was your ex-wife born in?
got an informed consent form and the admonishment to read it thoroughly
and an item on page 2 made my heart sink like the titanic:
“…must have experienced cramps with this frequency in the 4 weeks prior to screening”
i qualified in september, october, november, december, and january
i did not qualify now
february was almost cramp-free, though gout-fraught
no money for me
not even $25
and here is where the plot laughs in my face
on the bike ride back
to the station platform
i got a foot cramp
Here is the “Seasoned” Stan Getz, who has faced acclaim, disaster, and dislocation. He’s been around the block plenty. No one can match his Sound.
Edges are made when a light source is blocked.
Darkness is ready to fill in on spec,
And fills in as well when a pistol is cocked
Or scimitar swung through a hostage’s neck.
Living unfolds but the fire and the fist
Cradle destruction and then let it bloom
Strings of non-puppets are cut to enmist
Utopian visions and tint them with doom.
matters of the cardiac muscle
inspired and influenced by Shawn L. Bird
humans have three kinds of muscle:
smooth,
skeletal,
and cardiac.
special striation
keeps us alive.
we have attributed more
to this squeeze&release
than the scalpel reveals.
it reacts
to our emotions
and our vitality.
it is only natural
that our predecessors
put the “heart”
before the “course”
and gave it our souls.
it is also convenient
for us to reposit
all our emotional chickens
into this pulsemaking
latticed
basket.
when will we grow up?
when will we accurately
reflect reality
with our semisensical
words
and fairy-tale
phrases?
a search of the non-heart
reveals
no answers there.
we cannot but conclude
that we are
all
heart.
Between the ears: “It’s great to be doing all these saxophones and Getzes, but how about a break?” “OK. What did you have in mind?” “Let’s take a good piece of paper and a pencil and one of those magic erasers and just see what happens.” “Not looking at anything? You sure?” “Yeah, let’s go. What’s the risk? One piece of paper–one hour of time?” “OK then.” And here is what happened.
At this point I’ve learned enough about Stan Getz’s face to picture it and describe it without looking at a photo: Pale. Nose slightly aquiline. Short but not weak chin. Deep-set eyes, with sockets sloping upward toward the middle of the face. Ears small but protrusive. (Birth trauma trivia: Stan’s poor mom, Goldie, had 35 hours of labor. The doctor went in with forceps. Stan’s head was so big one of his ears was almost torn off and needed suturing. The doctor said they couldn’t leave with Stan until they’d paid an additional $52–a huge sum of money in 1927–for the ear work. “$52?” Al Getz gasped. “That’s too much. You can keep him.” Then he paid up.)
Here is a first take on a solo headshot of Stan Getz. There will be four more.
Words:
Smoothened F then sharpened G
Talk with tune of what will be
Anthemed improv free of rust
No one’s catspaw no one’s klutz
Here is that work in progress from a couple of posts ago. Adding the acrostic and a great deal of detail on the sax, and subtracting the “mood indigo” photoediting effects I had used before, turns it into a different visual experience.
Here are the words to the double acrostic poem:
Tension eases Music rises
Effortlessly on it goes
Energy averts the crisis
Nestling riffs to curl the toes
Oscillating chordage drove ya
Out of country–Bossa Nova
Rendered Heaven pressed in wax
Rife with Wonder none dare tax
Now it can be told: My recent interest in the saxophone and the world of jazz is due to my acceptance of a commission to do a portrait of Stan Getz, the tenor saxophonist known as The Sound. I knew next to nothing about Getz, and was completely unfamiliar with the structure of the saxophone. Now, with several drawings under my belt, armed with the critically praised STAN GETZ: A LIFE IN JAZZ by Donald L. Maggin, and (just as important) having listened to some Getz sides, I am well on the way to meeting my deadline of April Fool’s Day with some familiarity with Mr. Getz and the world he inhabited. This is an enjoyable project, and I think I’ll come out of it a better artist. I’m a long way from the finish line, though!
Here is a new drawing, a work in progress. For the first time there is a real effort to put some of the keys and rods where they belong–to learn how things work together. There’s also “post-production” work with the tablet’s photoeditor, experimenting with selective focus and “mood lighting.” All of this is in the service of making the final drawing of the series more genuine, and all that jazz.
One with Clay, Image and Text 