I was taking the babies for a walk this afternoon and it was a lovely winter day - just a bit below zero - and all the sidewalks cleared to make room for my twin stroller. I had spent a happy day with the babies and they were in joyous moods: they let me know they were done their afternoon nap by laughing together. I went into their room and they were as close as they could get, being that they were in separate cribs, and were smiling at one another. Wow. Fatherhood really is something special.
So there I was walking with this buoyant heart and I put on Walt Dickerson's song
To My Queen, a 17 minute song he wrote for his wife. I am not the biggest fan of the vibraphone, but in the hands of the master, those notes sing like bells. It doesn't hurt that he is backed up by Andrew Hill, one of the finest piano players of the 60s, who plays with a superb touch on this piece, as does bassist George Tucker (he has a great solo!) and drummer Andrew Cyrille keeps things moving and drops bombs now and again to keep things from getting too sleepy.
The song really does ooze love.
Okay, anyone reading this with an eye for design, feel free to groan about the album cover (worst font ever) but look how happy Mrs. Dickerson looks!
I was filled with such optimism as the music played and the mood continues as I sit here and write this. The babies have been fed dinner and are talking to each other in their eight month language before falling to sleep.
My back is bit sore, I am pretty tired, and I have yet to make dinner, and I know there are wars all over the world and the economy is still in recession and here in Canada we have a Prime Minister that is playing fast and loose with ethics to hell with good governance, yet.... at this moment as I type this I am once again listening to the gorgeous
To My Queen and I can't help thinking that the world truly is a wonderful place and we human beings are capable of acts (and of creating music) of incredible beauty.
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