The Sound Of Love

Chapter 5

Chantal was quite excited. It was past six and she was expecting Charles to call at any moment. She excitedly answered the phone twice only to be met with other customers. She was disappointed but she was the consummate professional and she was not going to let her personal feelings get in the way of her doing her job. She had a reputation to maintain after all, and she was not going to let anything get in the way of her maintaining this reputation that she had struggled so hard to maintain.

A couple of hours into her shift, her phone rang again. She answered, this time not expecting to hear Charles’s voice because she did not want to be disappointed again, but she was pleasantly surprised to hear him on the other end.

“Hi!” said Chantal.

“Hello,” said Charles. “I’m sorry, I wanted to call at six on the dot. I was very busy with work which was why I was unable to do so. What were you up to?”

“Oh nothing,” said Chantal. “I got a couple of clients that I hadn’t talked to before. They weren’t first timers they had just never spoken to me specifically before. I was rather excited to talk to you. It’s alright, don’t apologize, it’s not like you owe me anything. It’s lovely to be talking to you now.”

“So,” said Charles, “where were we?”

“You were telling me about Robert Johnson,” said Chantal. “Or rather, we were having a very excited discussion about him.”

“Ah yes,” said Charles. “What other kind of music do you enjoy?”

“I enjoy the blues a lot,” said Chantal, “but apart from that I really enjoy jazz.”

“It’s so cool that you really enjoy music that black people have excelled in,” said Charles. “Both blues and jazz are genres that black people practically invented, and they are genres of music from which a great number of other genres came. It’s really important to keep that in mind, I think, while listening to these genres of music. It’s really important to keep in mind that this is the legacy of black people that you are listening to, and that this legacy had a very important and lasting impact on music in general. It helped shape the type of music that we listen to today.”

“Yeah,” said Chantal. “I must admit, it wasn’t the fact that black people created these genres that attracted me to this music, I was naturally drawn to it. I think it’s just the feeling of belonging that I get. Blues calms me down, helps me get my groove on. Jazz helps me unwind, I think. Do you like jazz too?”

“I absolutely love jazz,” said Charles. “It’s one of my favorite kinds of music. My favorite musician is probably Miles Davis.”

“Oh he is lovely,” said Chantal. “Such a smooth player, utterly flawless in his playing. His fast transition between notes is so beautiful to listen to. I would prefer Dizzy Gillespie over Miles Davis, though.”

“Fair enough,” said Charles. “Gillespie had a lot going for him. He had a very distinct style. I think that’s what made him so important, you know? The fact that he was able to create a style that was separate from everything everyone else was doing. The fact that he was able to stand out at a time when giants such as Miles Davis and John Coltrane were playing… that’s utterly phenomenal. I think I also like him a lot because of the fact that his style is so difficult to replicate. After Miles Davis started to get big, people started to copy his playing style almost immediately. Pretty much the exact same thing happened with Coltrane. But Gillespie… his style was so distinctive that nobody was able to copy him for a very long time indeed. I think that goes to show that he was one of the greats.”

“Maybe it was his bent trumpet,” said Chantal. “Maybe that’s what gave him his distinct sound.”

“I think so,” said Charles. “That gave him the unique tone, that much is certain. However, I think that it’s also important to realize that his playing was phenomenal too. It’s not easy to play like that, you know, it’s not easy to have a playing style that is apart from everything everyone else is doing. That’s what’s most impressive about him. Do you like any other kinds of jazz? Big band jazz perhaps?”

“Oh yes!” said Chantal. “Big band jazz is one of my favorite kinds of jazz. That and bebop. I think it’s so amazing that so many musicians were able to come together so flawlessly, you know? That they were all able to play such long passages of music without missing a single beat, without getting out of sync with one another.

“And the solos! How were they able to do it? How were they able to play such incredible solos at the drop of a dime? It would just take a single look from the bandleader for them to realize that it was their turn to solo and then, just like that, they would start playing one of the most incredible solos that you would be able to hear. It wasn’t just the obvious instruments either, it was the other instruments as well. Bass solos! I couldn’t believe that an instrument that is supposed to technically play a supporting role could be used in such an incredible way to create solo pieces of music, that too over accompaniment provided by instruments that are more traditionally used for soloing. And drum solos too, such incredible drum solos.

“I honestly think that bassists and drummers make the best bandleaders because they are the ones that allow the other players to have a set bass on which to start playing, you know? They provide their band mates with a platform of sorts, some kind of platform on which they are able to build and bring it to an incredible cli*ax. And yet, they are able to put in brilliant solos of their own as well, in spite of being the backbone of the band, in spite of being the base upon which the entire band builds their musical symphonies. I think Charles Mingus is probably my favorite jazz bassist as well as my favorite band leader.”

“Mingus!” said Charles excitedly. “Yes, he was incredible. What a bassist, what utter control over his instrument, what an utterly phenomenal band leader. I think the greatest talent that he had was his ability to create a band setup that worked, you know? He was able to create a band setup composed of musicians that meshed together so brilliantly, so perfectly. That is saying something, because his other talent, which is composing of course, was so great as well. He could craft these utterly incredible melodies as if it was absolutely nothing. I can’t even begin to wrap my head around what his mind must have been like. What an utterly brilliant mind it must have been.”