LANGUAGE LAB, or JAZZ MANGLISH EN CROUTE

Jazz photographer John Herr sends along this jeu d’esprit, a bit of French jazz Manglish.  To get the full flavor of it, I suggest that this note — a confirmation of purchase from a French record dealer — be read aloud in a suitable accent.  You know, the one we learned from Sid Caesar, from Warner Brothers cartoons.

Bonjour

Votre commande a ete prise en compte !

La livraison interviendra dans les meilleurs delais.

Merci et a bientot

Dear customer,

Thank you for your order.

The delivery of your records will be done in the best delay.

JAZZ MANGLISH, AGRICULTURAL STYLE

This afternoon, I was putting some disorderly books in order.  But this soon became less of a pastime, and when I encountered a paperback bio-discography of a versatile New York musician (who shall remain nameless) written by someone whose name was new to me, I took the opportunity to page through the discography. 

There I found a listing for this musician — a concert he had played with, among others, Joe Venuti — and a song that struck me as a curiously fertile re-working of an old Dixieland classic:

THAT’S A PLANT.

Who could argue with this bit of emphatic nomenclature?  The only thing that puzzles me is my tendency to imagine the scenario that led to this imaginative renaming.  Did the author mishear or misread the title; although he had solid jazz credentials, was the song new to him?  I can’t speculate — all I can do is enter it, with perennial admiration, into the Jazz Manglish Hall of Fame. 

JAZZ MANGLISH IS BACK!

For those of you who have felt deprived . . .

I just received an email of the innocently self-promoting kind from a jazz artist who shall remain nameless.  The email invited me to a performance by this musician at what was described as “New York’s longest running jazz club.”

At moments like this, I regret even more than ever that I am not skilled at drawing.  Imagine!  A jazz club, unutterably lengthened from the front entrance to the stage, moving more quickly than Roger Bannister, suitably attired in shorts and running shoes.  Oh, the mind reels!  And proofreading — obviously a skill with the same currency as ornamental napkin-folding.

JAZZ MANGLISH 4

This morning, over coffee, I was perusing a new CD catalogue that, of course, lists the song titles, when my eye fell on this favorite, associated with Ted Lewis;

WHEN  MY  BABY  SMILE  SAT  ME

Oh, how I wish I could draw!  But then the authorities would shut this blog down for indecency.