The Whole World In A Malt Shop - The Art Of The Jazz Conversation
Have you ever had a jazz conversation? Would you know it if you had it? A jazz conversation is one with jazz riffs and rhymes. It has rhythm. It diverges and converges on theme and variation, and improvises freely between instruments, while maintaining a central melody. The art of conversation is becoming more rare these days as rushing becomes more the norm. To be with a good conversationalist (especially while sipping an orange shake) is a true treat.
This is a treat I recently experienced after my fortieth high school class reunion. In high school Curt and I knew each other only tangentially, so making a new friendship out of an old shoe at our reunion was a joy. After the main event we went to the Steak and Shake for what a dear Ghanaian friend used to call a “jazz conversation.”
There was no Steak and Shake in the Alton-Godfrey area when I was a teenager. That was only for the big city. There was one on the Riverview round-about and it had curb service. I remember the thrill of a rare taste of food made from outside our home kitchen when my mother took me there a few times on our infrequent outings to St. Louis. We had a malt shop on Henry Street. I don’t remember going there to speak of because I was a country girl. So, talking in a malt shop after an event sounds like an unrealized girlhood experience we might say. But, hey, better than a bar.
Curt said he wanted to “read between the lines of what’s going on in your life.” And for two hours that’s what we did. I felt that I was participating in a Socratic dialogue as we discussed moral and philosophical issues related to my move from Northern California to St. Louis. Under his gentle questioning layers were revealed as if through an anthropological study with my decision as source material. Curt has learned about connection and intimacy from his life journey. As we parted, he said, “It’s like reading a good novel. I think maybe we’re up to chapter two now.” And next time, perhaps at the holidays, we’ll read into his book
If I were running for president of relationship renewal in community, I’d vote for the jazz conversation as one of the primary tools. We just have to take the time to dive beneath the surface and learn to know each other more deeply.
Visit Janet Grace Riehl’s blog “Riehl Life: Village Wisdom for the 21st Century” at http://www.riehlife.com for more thoughts and information about making connections through the arts, across cultures, generations, and within the family. You can also read sample poems and other background information from “Sightlines: A Poet’s Diary” on Janet’s website.
Tags: connection, converation, relationship