A Jazz Story

Smoky Charles, when he played, let fly his fingers. When his cool hands laid themselves against the keys of Miss. Marley, something special happened. Smoky was one of a kind. I once talked to Wes about his talents. Wes told me "When smoky got into that mood, when he really got there, he was a jazz master. His eyes would close, and he would be in perfect unison with me. Our strings would vibrate you know. It was magical." Smoky's story began, as many young musicians did, with a broken family and a strong mother. His father, though not a drunkard, was an indifferent gentleman who cared little for the welfare of his only son. He imparted only two instances of fatherly kindness. The first being his ideal death at the hand of the authorities. The second being the money that was then given to Smoky. 

Smoky, already exuding a talent for music, insisted upon a piano he saw in the window of a brooklyn pawnshop. It was a ragged and unloved hunk of wood. still, when Smoky saw Miss. Marley he knew he had to have her. From there on his talents flourished and he became something more than exceptional. He began by mastering the Ragtime greats, such as Jackson and Bernard. He fell in love with Showboat, and became a student of Kern and later Bernstein, incorporating their own jazz and ragtime influences into his musical repertoire. 

Bird once told me "He was majestic. I would have killed for Smoky to have been in my rhythm section. He understood chords so well, and he could swing, boy could he swing." as the years progressed Smoky built himself a rock solid reputation as not only a phenomenal musician, but composer as well. Although there is not a single piece of recorded music to his name today Jazz greats such as Oscar, Miles, and John all attest to his brilliance. 

So why is there no record of Smoky Charles and his famed piano Miss. Marley? Smoky, like Robert Johnson and Lenny Breau, is clouded in legend and mysticism. Smoky had a single dream, to write the perfect song. Sonny told me that "Smoky was obsessed. he had this one song in mind, and man, he must have worked on it for years, maybe even a decade. He was lost you know. He tried showing it to me once, but it was so long and out there. Time changes came mid-tempo, and some of those licks." With further research, I learned that his song had a devastating strain on his life. He lost sleep and he was unable to handle the stresses of tour life. When touring with Dizzy he stopped mid-song to consider a new chordal arrangement for his monstrous musical creation. Understandably Dizzy was furious and fired Smoky on the spot. 

Smoky toured on and off for a decade, still struggling with his inability to compose that perfect song. During the end of the 50's Smoky had disappeared from the musical world and was later found dead, at the age of 32, in his apartment, in 1959. Much is debated about Smoky and his life. Many felt that drugs had caught up to smoky, but such conjectures have no basis since there is no record Smoky struggled with drug addictions. Legend says he took his own life when he realized he couldn't write an objectively perfect song, and legends also state he tried to sell his soul to the devil in order to write that one song (a parallel eerily similar to the legends that still dog Robert Johnson's legacy today). Other still state he was killed by a jilted lover. No one knows, for no autopsy was ever done, and all that was left in his single room apartment was Miss. Marley, refurnished, and sounding as perfect as she did 22 years earlier.