Mario plays trumpet and Kaliq Woods clarinet in "My Mother's Spirit ..." Mario and Kaliq have known each other since teen-aged club and and street musicians in Chicago. Their rapport is also unthinking by now and their instruments' singing voices lift each other into heights and depths. They have great ideas. Zach Knewstub has a rare touch on piano and his palette of chords and harmonies grows through eight hours + of practice a day. This was our second take of "My Mother's Spirit ..." on March 4, 2015 and my second day with Rick G. Nelson in his Marigny Studio.

The poem-become-song (for it arose with distinct melody) arose on the preceding Christmas Eve, as I walked with two dogs, Boomer and RotoTumba,
from a house in Gretna out to the levee and Mississippi. The night was one of
fog and shadows that leave the sky chiaroscuro and a marching field of history
and allusions. My mother had died in February 2009; Maryse and I had married in January 2014 and flown directly to the Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival. 'Framed birds of Asia / Cherry blossoms / Snows of Manitoba / Blowing into New Orleans' Mississippi / ... " Just as it happened--particulars of my mother's past ("She was a hippie before there were hippies," said my cousinRobyn) merging with the swing and swell of wish that she and Maryse might have met. Kaliq and Mario came up with the change that accompanies
"Cock of a hip to Basie's beats / Twinkling smile both young and old."Chicago. Their rapport is also unthinking by now and their instruments' singing voices lift each other into heights and depths. They have great ideas. Zach Knewstub has a rare touch on piano and his palette of chords and harmonies grows through eight hours + of practice a day. This was our second take of "My Mother's Spirit ..." on March 4, 2015 and my second day with Rick G. Nelson in his Marigny Studio.