I write it, I read it, I revere that sea
which blues the heaving earthly hemisphere.
I was swooping low over those waves one day
when my eye caught a tiny triangle of island
some instinct told me to investigate:
volcanic, a mere scrub of greenery,
but interesting in its defiant aloneness
thousand of miles from the nearest land.
I spoke to the inhabitants. They were curious.
They were mighty voyagers, or their ancestors were,
not now though; there was some great past,
fragments only, drifting through memory.
I found them quite merry people.
They preferred tattoos to clothes.
They shot their legs out in shameless dances.
What use is shame in mid-Pacific?
Whoever they were, they were not the ones
whose gaunt and awesome faces stared at - not me
but space and clouds and things unknown
unless to those who carved them.
Hundreds of statues, six-men-high and more,
standing, leaning, lying, trying
to break from the earth like Polynesian Adams -
but not Polynesian, they forbade identity:
pointed nose, thin lip, jutting chin
said nothing but Power! Mystery! Vision!
What force moved them from their quarries,
those many tons, across the rough of the island?
They were not moved, they moved, I was told.
Step by step, rocking from side to side,
they reached their appointed places.
Everyone knows that, I was told.
It was evening now, evening of what some would call
Easter Sunday. I climbed a hill near the coast,
gazing across those vast waters not vaster
than tracts of mind new-visited and glittering.
On the horizon, the first ship from Europe:
trinkets, missionaries, trousers, smallpox, guns.
Edwin Morgan
credits
from Evolution,
released February 25, 2021
Tommy Smith - Tenor Saxophone
Joe Lovano - Tenor Saxophone
John Scofield - Guitar
John Taylor - Piano
John Patitucci - Acoustic Bass
Bill Stewart - Drums
Music by Tommy Smith published by Smythe Music, PRS
Poetry by Edwin Morgan commissioned by Tommy Smith
Recorded April 2003 Avatar Studios, New York City
Engineer: James Farber
Mastering from Analogue Tape: Ben Turner, Fine Splice
Photography: Paul Thorburn
Cover photo of Smith: Robert Burns
Born in 1967, Edinburgh. In 1983 Chick Corea recommended Tommy Smith to Gary Burton; he joined his group. Recording over 30
solo albums for Blue Note, Linn, ECM, Spartacus Records, touring 50+ countries, performing with Arild Andersen, Edwin Morgan, John Scofield, Jaco Pastorius, Trilok Gurtu, Dizzy Gillespie. In 2019, he was awarded an OBE for services to jazz from HRH Queen Elizabeth II....more
supported by 12 fans who also own “Easter Island (1722 A.D.) Part 1”
So good and exciting that I had to go back and get all the others. Each album is awesome jazz with smooth burning melodies and soul shaking rhythm. I love it.
bobreg
supported by 10 fans who also own “Easter Island (1722 A.D.) Part 1”
I absolutely loved this gig live which is why I bought the record. What an album! The crossovers are epic, and totally representative of my experience of living in Glasgow as a musical city. I haven't heard too many collabs between the folk and jazz scenes here, but the ones I've seen are so alive and playful. This music makes me think of stumbling on a full blown pros jam session in a pub somewhere in Glasgow because of its energy, but the arrangements are feckin awesome! Laura-Beth Salter
Strong debut album as a leader/composer/saxophonist. Smith leads 21 musicians through jazz styles from edgy to calming. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 18, 2015