Taxi Driver and Trombone

[The_Traveler]

I like to drive into Baltimore, visit different places and try to understand the lives of the people I see.
It keeps me connected.

There is a book store called the Book Thing; it is different in that all its books are donations and books are free.
So I go there just about the time it opens, gets some books and go to Red Emma's for breakfast and a good read.
Today I got there a little early and parked next to this independent cab.
When I turned off my motor I could hear the faint sounds of a trombone playing 'Yesterdays', not the Beatles tune but the jazz composition by Charlie Musselwhite.
I looked into the taxi sitting there and there was this old guy, playing on a trombone.
He never noticed me and kept on playing while I snapped this picture.

Start the song playing and then look at the picture below and envision the scene and the mysteries of daily life.

Lyrics

Yesterdays, yesterdays
Days I knew as happy sweet sequestered days
Olden days, golden days
Days of mad romance and love

Then gay youth was mine, truth was mine
Joyous free and flaming life, then truth was mine
Sad am I, glad am I?
For today I'm dreaming of yesterdays

Yesterdays, yesterdays
Days I knew as happy sweet sequestered days
Golden days, olden days
Days of mad romance and love

Then gay youth was mine, truth was mine
Joyous free and flaming life, then truth was mine
Sad am I, glad am I?
For today I'm dreaming of yesterdays
​

This is as satisfying a street shot to me as I've ever gotten, I think.

 

[Raj_55555]

A very nice read Lew, I haven't really heard anyone play a Trombone before, but I kept listening to the entire thing and it was really pleasing.

 

[The_Traveler]

Actually I think that was a ratehr well played harmonica (called a mouth harp), a trombone sounds like

 

[Raj_55555]

:lmao: what a fool I am! It was very nice nevertheless.

 

[Derrel]

Really good song!!! Nice photo too. I wish I could see more of the taxi cab's door logo, which would make the oddness of the trombone in the car even more poignantly...well...odd! But I figure you might not want to broadcast the taxi company's logo and such in this kind of a context.

Out of all of the BILLIONS (?) of photos that have been made, this is the ONLY ONE I have ever seen of a man playing a trombone inside of a taxi cab. Which really makes this stand out, which has become much harder to do since, oh, about 1955...

 

[sashbar]

Charlie Musselwhite is one of the very best harmonica blues players in history, if not the best.