Some while back, I posted a dismissive note on Facebook regarding the highly welcome departure of Anthony “the Mooch” Scaramucci, to wit: “The Mooche is mooted and muted. Suck on this, Tony: You’re history.”
Well, Tony is history, but I unfortunately misspelled his nickname, as a jazz buff might, because there are two famous “Mooches” in jazz, “The Mooche”, one of Duke Ellington’s most famous compositions from his early “jungle band” days at the Cotton Club, and “Moose the Mooche”, saluted by Charlie Parker in the early days of bop.
A live video of an early fifties performance of “The Mooche” by the Ellington band is shown below. Ellington “explained” the title with his typical vague elegance as “a certain lazy gait peculiar to some of the folk of Harlem.” Posted by jrock0789
“Moose the Mooche”, unhappily, appears to be a shout out to Parker’s heroin connection. What’s shown below is not a vido, but a live recording of Parker with Red Garland, piano, Billy Griggs, bass, and Roy Haynes, drums. Like Lester Young’s “Lester Leaps In” and Thelonious Monk’s “Rhythm-A-Ning”, “Moose the Mooche” is based on George Gershwin’s “I Got Rhythm.” Posted by caoamarelo
With both Trump and Congress on vacation for the next several weeks, I hope to spend less time howling with empty rage and more on polishing off a couple of “think” pieces that I have been, well, thinking about. That’s presuming, of course, that El Donaldo doesn’t blow up the entire world. In any event, if things get tough, check out Mostly Monk for sustained breaths of sanity.
