Jazz Stories

Paris, 1962 Inside Bohemia After Dark, patrons squinted through an ashen haze at the nightclub's featured combo. Stained indigo under mood lighting, a quintet of animated ebony carvings whisper-shouted wordless, haunting languages. Cigarette embers winked; wine glasses clinked; heads nodded with appreciation as notes jitterbugged in a tempo hurricane. The tenor man dismounted from the rollercoaster rush of a melody he'd r...

It was just a normal Tuesday. Another day at the office, I'm listening to Spotify, rushing home in my car. I'm so ready to get out of these clothes. I pull in, and step out onto the gravel, and as the land crunches beneath me, I sprint to the door. I can see through the window that it's dark, with some flickering, which feels weird. Was my husband home? He usually is on a Tuesday at 5:30. When I open the door, I notice th...

Maybe he was just trying to prove a point, ignoring her tepid pleas and continuing to swirl his tongue around her sloppy pussy. “No more,” she whined, “It’s too much. I can’t….” She trailed off with a sigh, suggesting that maybe she could. He was pretty sure she would. That hot, liquid flesh had been cool and dry when he started. She was skeptical of his intentions, but he was completely honest about them—he liked giving...

“How high…” sings Lynn. “How hi-igh… How high the moo-oo-oon!” With echoes of Sarah Vaughan, she stretches the final word beyond its normal constraints, modulating the tone, while her fingers follow a little behind on the piano, finally resolving themselves in improvisation when she senses there is little more to be squeezed from one word. The audience politely applauds as they recognise the change. She smiles, although s...

Steve called me at three that afternoon. “John,” he said, “Lucy and I are going to a swing party tonight. Would you like to join us?” I’ve always loved the big bands, both the original sound like Duke Ellington and the 90s revival of swing. So needless to say, I agreed to it. “The only thing is that they tend not to let single men into the hall, but I asked them and they’re going to bend the rule for you.” Why the hell wo...