Ellis Marsalis at Jazz Fest 2018
For Ellis
(1934–2020)
Nothing spontaneous
Nothing improvised
None of the necessary sounds in the streets
Places that should have paraded
Places that should have erupted, rest empty.
An absence weighs on the city.
(At home knowing Music Redeems
At home knowing Loved Ones or Joe Cool’s Blues or
The Ellis Marsalis Quintet Plays the Music of Ellis Marsalis)
The city of Ellis is restless
At home knowing the need for a long dirge,
An endless second line.