THOMAS STANLEY JAZZCODES OUTRO

[Verse: Thomas Stanley]

It is a peculiar word, jazz

Its illegitimate origins lost in the murky brothels where it was conceived and birthed

But many observers have told us that jazz used to mean sex

And maybe it needs to go back to meaning sex

To being identified with coitus and copulation

Hyper-creativity, fecundity, and birth

Ultimately, perhaps it is good that the people abandoned jazz

Replaced it with musical products better suited to capitalism's designs

Now jazz jumps up like Lazarus if we allow it

To rediscover itself as a living music

A subvеrsive suture of inner movеment, fertility, tension, and release

Released now from the prison bars of metrical stability

And the black and white keys of chromatic incarceration

Swing becomes a quantum oscillation of adventure

An expedition into chapters of Black history that did not survive the fires at Alexandria

A journey into Black futures that have not been lived and will not be realized

Unless and until we can dive into Willie Dixon's "Spoonful"

And bathe ourselves in that jazz

Pour it into our scalps

Massage it into our aching joints

Paint it across the soles of our feet

Then we can dance the Juba

Into New Congo Square

That Sonny has built for us

Between the rings of Saturn

Between C-sharp and B-natural

Be natural

Be natural