Swing

“it don’t mean a thing, if it ain’t got that swing . . .”

—Bubber Miley

benny goodman ate louis armstrong’s trumpet over dinner with fletcher henderson and the duke ellington orchestra entertaining on nbc radio; benny got a crown for his appetite. wore it sometimes in public. thought him the king of the swing nation. his gut bulged a little.

satchmo wrote all swing laws. told everyone what to eat. fletcher and 20,000 new negroes gave afro-america cpr and let the mute mutate. this is the law.

this kansas city lindy hop big band count basie and other cool sounding names like jimmie lunceford.

edward was in the middle of this; cooked up many of the early meals benny and paul whiteman force fed themselves. paul got really fat. ate a piano that edward left at the savoy after doing battle with jimmie l and some other cats who could burn.

benny stopped eating so much. hired some of the best colored cooks and headed for the streets to feed the hungry.

uptown with the arrogant benny and his boys basie and some cooks that worked in edward’s cafe made a big pot of stew at a dive called the carnegie.

this was 1938. benny was king.

edward wasn’t angry. a lot of new cats were being declared master chefs even though they had no original recipes. edward knew they would all eat his food eventually and he wouldn’t have to force feed anyone.

in ‘43 the carnegie begged for his special stew. edward gave them fried chicken collard greens threw in the stew and some pork chops for free.

by dessert the arrogant all had belly aches from the authentic “negro” buffet.

edward never gave out any of the recipes. the arrogant still wondering what they ate that night. everyone still trying to make all them dishes themselves.