THE PERFECT PAIR

Cory the barber telephone number flashed on the display screen of my cell phone. My wife was out running her Saturday errands. I had the house to myself, and I had a few hours of alone time, so I ordered "Brooklyn's Finest on HBO on Demand. I was reluctant to answer my cell phone. Cory the barber is talkative, especially when the subject at hand is music. I decided to answer the call anyway because it may have been an emergency, but I was almost certain he was to talk about some great album he recently purchased.
"Did I get you at a bad time," Cory asked.
"I was just about to watch 'Brooklyn's Finest'," I said. I turned down the volume on the television in the family room so I could hear him.
"I thought you saw that already."
"I want to watch it again," I said.
"I was at Borders last night and I bought this sweet ass album 'Silence' by Mal Waldron and David Murray. You need to get it if you don't already have it."
"Is there a photo of a boy on the cover with a red bow tie and a rose attached to the lapel of his suit jacket"?
"Yeah that's the one. The duets are sweet I didn't know that David could play ballads so tenderly. I listened to the album on my laptop, and the speakers cried when he soloed on ‘All to Soon’ and ‘Soul Eyes’".
"Dave is a virtuoso. I’m not surprised that your laptop speakers were weeping.” "
"I always associated him and Mal with the avant-garde," Cory said.
"Mal was a virtuoso, too. He could do it all. Even when he performed with free jazz cats like Eric Dolphy and Jackie McLean, Mal was un-rambunctious," I said.
“Is that a real word”?
“Yes. I just made it up.”
“You like making up your own words”?
“That’s my way of improvising. If jazz musicians can make up new notes, tones, and sounds, I can make up my own words.”
“Whatever, man. Anyway, normally, I hate the sound of the bass clarinet. It’s an ugly looking instrument. It looks like an over sized smoking pipe, but I really liked listening to Dave play it on "Free for C.T.' and 'Soul Eye's".
"I dug the way David improvised throughout. Some jazz critics past and present contend Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane are the greatest jazz improvisers. In my book, David is just as good," I said.
I heard my wife Honda Civic pull up.
"I don't know about that.We can debate about that some other time," Cory said.
"What did you dislike about the album’?
"The title cut 'Silence' was an eyesore".
“‘Silence’ and 'Hurray for Herbie' showed what a virtuoso improviser David is, and what a gifted accompanist Mal was," I said. I heard my wife pull up to the garage. I asked Cory to hold on. I peeked through the blinds. The wife popped the trunk, which was stuffed with bags from Targets and Kroger.
"Cory, my wife just pulled up. I want to give her a hand with the grocery bags."
"Cool."
"I'll call you back later."
"Okay, peace."