Washington Then and Now (2); Langston Hughes; Duke Ellington

"To fling my arms wide

In the face of the sun..."

From Dream Variation

'He played a few chords then he sang some more -
"I got the Weary Blues
And I can't be satisfied.
Got the Weary Blues
And can't be satisfied...."'

Langston Hughes, from The Weary Blues, 1926

Above: from the Jacob Lawrence People on the Move  Migration Series Exhibition, The Phillips Collection

Langston Hughes (The Big Sea: An Autobiography, 1940):

"I felt very bad in Washington that winter, so I wrote a great many poems...I began to write poems in the manner of the Negro blues and spirituals...

On Seventh Street in 1924 they played the blues, ate watermelon, barbecue, and fish sandwiches, shot pool, told tall tales, looked at the dome of the Capitol and laughed out loud. I listened to their blues:

     Did you ever dream lucky-
     Wake up cold in hand?

And I went to their churches and heard the tambourines play and the little tinkling bells of the triangles adorn the gay shouting tunes that sent sisters dancing down the aisles for joy.

I tried to write poems like the songs they sang on Seventh Street- gay songs, because you had to be gay or die; sad songs, because you couldn't help being sad sometimes. But gay or sad, you kept on living and you kept on going. Their songs- those of Seventh Street- had the pulse beat of the people who keep on going.

Like the waves of the sea coming one after another, always one after another, like the earth moving around the sun, night, day- night, day- night, day- forever, so is the undertow of black music with its rhythm that never betrays you, its strength like the beat of the human heart, its humor, and its rooted power...

I liked the barrel houses of Seventh Street, the shouting churches, and the songs. They were warm and kind and didn't care whether you had an overcoat or not."

Some poems by Langston Hughes

The Weary Blues (YouTube)

I, Too (YouTube)

The Harlem Renaissance (Poetry Foundation)


and a poem I wrote in Washington back in 2004:


Echoes of Ellington, Washington DC
(for Jack, who lives on 15th and R)

“To me, the people of London are the most civilized in the world. Their civilization is based on the recognition that all people are imperfect, and that allowances should be made and are made for their imperfections. I have never experienced quite such a sense of balance elsewhere.” Duke Ellington, Music is My Mistress, New York, 1973.



I can almost hear the clink and tinkle

Of Duke’s jazz piano

Taking shape on Ninth and R

At Louis Thomas’ cabaret.

I reconstruct the place and spot,

The siren songs, the playful rags,

Sonny’s drums, the banjorine.



I can hear Duke and his sidemen swing

Invited to the White House now,

Performing for the President.

Not far on foot from that cabaret-site,

A long, long way from where he used to play

“What You Gonna Do When the Bed Breaks Down”.

A suitable song for the White House.



All hail Mrs Clinkscales!

Well done T Street 1212!

Duke’s childhood home, but

Where’s the plaque?

Well done 9th and R!

20th and R! (and those between);

Sherman Avenue 2728!



I saw him in Bournemouth,

Where I went backstage.

(How do you find the English weather?

-“Ah feel no pain”).

Again in Addis Ababa

Playing for Haile Selassie.

The Duke and the Emperor:



Two conquering lions

About to be tamed.

All hail His Imperial Majesty!

A Command Performance for Ras Tafari:

- We thank you, Duke.

I can almost hear their siren swan-song;

Now and then wilder growls from the jungle.



Postscript, 2013

This evening I took the grandchildren to their music lessons at the Washington Conservatory of Music.
Jack is learning the alto saxophone with Marty Nau, his sister the guitar, with Fred Wilchek. Marty Nau plays and tours with the Duke Ellington Orchestra. See Marty jamming on YouTube

MARTY NAU (saxophone): Former lead alto sax, Navy Commodores. Member, Capitol Quartet. Performed with Tommy Dorsey and Dorsey Brothers orchestras, "Blues Alley Big Band," Bill Potts Big Band, Guy Lombardo, National Symphony, Richmond Symphony, Baltimore Symphony with musicians Dizzy Gillespie, Eddie Daniels, Stanley Turrentine, Joe Williams, Rosemary Clooney, Ray Charles, Nancy Wilson, Maureen McGovern. Lead alto, Great American Music Ensemble. Selmer jazz clinician.

FRED WILCHEK (guitar dept. coordinator; blues, classical, jazz, pop, rock, electric guitar; electric ensembles; music theory): M.M., Peabody Conservatory; B.M., American University. Studies in music education and trumpet at Ohio State University. Former head of guitar department at Virginia Commonwealth University. Former instructor, Anne Arundel Community College, the Community College of Baltimore, Bowie State College and at the Silver Spring Nursery School.