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Rod Moran: Chet Baker in Japan

Rod Moran

Dec 01 2015

0 mins

Chet Baker in Japan

 

Ravaged Chet Baker,

Junkie prince of jazz,

Searching for a vein

Under Tokyo’s neon,

The blue narco-moon

A tattooed yakuza,

A gleaming katana,

Samurai shadows

In clubland alleys,

(Death could intervene,

Like a deal gone wrong),

Chet blowing a pure

And improvised Zen,

Spare riffs of beauty,

The velvet of his voice

Like mist on the harbour,

The timbre of moon-drench

On Mt Fuji’s screes—

Then, My Funny Valentine’s

Harmonics dissolving,

All the songs collapsing

Into a long dark night.

 

Rod Moran

 

 

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