Fame at the Flamingo

So much of Georgie Fame and his music has threaded through my life – from all-nighters at the Flamingo when I was a student, through gigs in a variety of places – Ronnie Scott’s, of course, on several occasions – and latterly with the Blue Flames alongside Elvis Costello and the Attractions at the Royal Albert Hall – that it’s difficult to believe that he’s a tad younger than me. 81 to my 85. And his birthday is today, 26th June.

BEBOP NIGHTS

for Jim Burns & David Kresh

On bebop nights flattened fifths
flare up like firecrackers over Little Italy
while on the edge of Chinatown
the line outside the Flamingo
edges anxiously closer
as below the Blue Flames
sound-check their way
through ‘Moody’s Mood for Love’,
the throb of the Hammond organ
rising through basement walls
and out onto the expectant street

Photo: Val Wilmer

TIME (& TIME AGAIN)

Now it’s Georgie, relaxed, singing
‘Funny How Time Slips Away’,
the needle catching in the groove
whenever the vocal breaks
and hands over to the horns

What was once a basement
busy with the shuffle of bodies
is now a blue plaque on an outside wall

Across the room, your wine glass
has left a pattern of fading rings

I conjure up a few faint bars of saxophone,
searching for some kind of coda

Outside, the night is drawing close,
the outline of your footsteps
frozen in the snow.

Photo: Val Wilmer

Both poems are from my 2023 collection, ON BALANCE, published by Shoestring Press. If you’re reading this, you most likely have your own cooy already (?), but if not, Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham do a fast and friendly mail service. bookshop@fiveleaves.co.uk