by Marvin G. Kimbrough

I'm your jazz, man
I'm the tune your daddy played on a beat-up second-hand trumpet
The cold pork and beans/sardines out-of-the-can jazz
The toe pattin', heel stompin' jazz
The cold coffee/stale cigarette, slow-sweet/hot-fast jazz
The midnight to dawn/dawn to dusk/24/7 jazz
I'm your jazz, man

The jazz your grandma couldn't stand
The jazz your mamma tolerated
The jazz your woman embraced with you at 2 a.m.
The smooth jazz, man

I'm your jazz, man
The big band jazz, cafe jazz, radio jazz, stage and alley jazz
I'm the Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, San Francisco
New Orleans Preservation Hall jazz
The Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Ben Webster, John Coltrane
Jazz, I'm your jazz, man
The Austin, Texas jazz. the Clarksville Festival jazz, the East Eleventh Street jazz, Victory Grill jazz
The Black Cat jazz, The Rosewood Ramble jazz, the Marie Tea Room jazz
The piano tickling jazz, the juke joint, juke box jazz
The Margaret Wright, Earnie Miller, Martin Banks, James Polk, Beulah Jones, Pam Hart jazz

I'm your jazz, man, concieved in the guts of your soul when you were African
Reborn, in this US of A, as your essence, your raison d'etre, the meaning of your existence, you, I am your jazz, man, I am you