an improvised overture
2. this trombone 1:31
an introductory poem
3. louis 2:04
a musical tribute to the greatest New Orleans musician
4. for the record 0:49
a poem about the inspirations of old recordings
5. movin’ on 1:26
an upbeat tune in traditional jazz style
6. about bert 1:07
a trombonist remembered: Bert Murray held court in a scruffy pub in the City
7. new orleans nocturne 1:40
a glimpse of Jelly Roll Morton, sparked by Lomax’s biography, Mister Jelly Roll
8. south of the river 2:02
an old-style stomp from the badlands of South London
9. showtime 1:09
a trad jazz anecdote
10. jot 4:13
a plunger-mute ballad
11. you hum it 0:56
life in the pizzeria
12. one for bukowski 1:06
a tribute to a prolific proletarian poet
13. and another thing 1:57
second thoughts on the overture
14. farewell concert 0:38
a nature study
15. owns a sax 0:39
the lurking danger of saxophonitis
16. this morning 2:19
a poet gets the blues
17. weather bird 1:48
a poem in response to the classic recording by Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines
18. the stopper 0:45
thoughts from the cellar
19. tango tarita 2:29
for a dancer, with love
20. devotion 0:55
in praise of swing, dedicated to bandleader Mick Collins
21. redriff 1:06
a tune from/for Rotherhithe
22. noises off 1:14
a festival earful
23. blues for lacy 0:35
a tribute to inspirational saxophonist Steve Lacy, heard and met at a landmark conference on Buckminster Fuller at RIBA in 1999
24. vive steve 1:10
more notes for Lacy
25. rooftop rendezvous 2:48
inspired by Raymond Queneau’s poetic form, morale elementaire, and taking its spiralling form from a residential building, Mariner House
26. uptalk turnoff 1:08
crusading against a linguistic virus
27. movin’ on (again) 2:27
ending up with Latin music, recycling into the distance
Some of these poems have now been published in Better Late Than Sorry.