One Way to Solo

First footing -- everything that stands has a structure. Thundering bass rumbles a rock steady foundation, zen in its unfloundering flow. Now we know where to go. Drums shape the accents.

The solo relaxes upright but loose, feeling the range as it paces the expanse. From a steady walk it becomes sure of itself, prancing and skipping.

It ducks and weaves fluidly like an unpredictable prizefighter. This song isn't for the radio, so discards expectations. It's fresh, sassy, and soulful, quite inappropriate for public listeners.

The rigidity of meter falls away. Now no phrase need fit within immediate pulse, blocks of 4/4 only getting in the way of what must be said. It works around the structure, periodically playing off its base for propulsion.

Character speaks with its own rhythm of staccato attack, long vowels, bending bursts, and hanging flurries that surge and hold for a moment.

The solo retains language -- we always have language, and can use it fully.

Some notes drop off, replaced by sounds, textures, evocations. It fits so right.

Now having said what it needed, it concludes cleanly, the substance definitively shown in its well crafted container.