C above C above High C: A Complicated Smile for Louis/in memory – by José Torres-Tama / Art Changes / In Motion Magazine

C above C above High C:
A Complicated Smile for Louis/in memory

by José Torres-Tama
New Orleans, Louisiana

the sound was more than the man
and the man was more than the sound
more than the toothy smile
of minstrels and subjugation
more of a laughing at you grin
for a lack of recognition of divinity incarnate
of an orphaned child prodigy and mythical salvation
through song and rhythm that could not be stolen
through trumpet of C above C above high C
a wall of teeth to forge a smile as weapon
to protect him from hotels that would not sleep him
through “yes’ems” and a negotiated wonderful life
in celluloid silver that multiplied his black image
because the horn did his crying
screaming pain from one note to the other
of C above C above high C
the bluesy indigo hurt of improvised scat
a code language not meant for the oppressors
to comprehend unless it made their
own souls vibrate with a freedom they often withheld
and he went down to St. James Infirmary
and found his baby there
his own gravel voice of charcoal essence and dark rue
a black and blue sound of vast discontent
but he smiled the white darkness down
and blew it out into C above C above high C
and his viper smile moves along
from one century to another
making an absolute choice to smile
his reefer smile in the face of ivory terror
in the face of strange fruit and lynching postcards
as if some human barbecue was all the rave
to send back to some other cracker
who also abused power and shoved their bad education
to stop the smiles of colored men and women
and Natives and Mexicans and Chinese
and his handkerchief to wipe the sweat of livin’
and smilin’ in the face of a bold freedom lie called
18th and 19th and 20th century USA
imprisoning more black and brown citizens
in the new millennium than it dares to educate
but Louis with that trumpet of C above C above high C
because the man was more than the sound
and the sound was more than the man
more than the toothy smile
of minstrels and subjugation
more of a laughing at you grin

Poem inspired by Ishmael Reed’s play titled The C Above C Above High C
Image: Louis Armstrong: A Complicated Smile by José Torres-Tama from The Color of Music Series
See The New York Times review of the 1997 production of the play, directed by Rome Neal, at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe
See José Torres-Tama's website

Published in In Motion Magazine December 19, 2010

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