Guffaw along with Raoul in this swinging number which features 
Andrew Alter on keys
Joel Banner Baird on acoustic bass
jhaffur khan azad darakth on drums and horns

Raoul's Guffaw

"Let me sing you 
the ballad of Vertigo Jones
he lost his balance, 
so I've been told
not just a dalliance, 
you know he was 
gettin kind of old
but I don't make no 
unnecessary bones
it's a ballad of Vertigo Jones
if he were to go 
It'd be due to that vertigo
now let me give it to you
in a common parlance
the man had clearly lost his balance
if he were to go....
It's the Ballad of Vertigo Jones."
with:
Joel Banner Baird performing on slide guitar, upright acoustic bass 
jhaffur khan azad darakth - blowing alto saxophone, with congas and voice
Andrew Alter returns on piano

Ballad Of Vertigo Jones

Joel Banner Baird: bass and schlied guitar
jhaffur khan azad darakth: drums and voice \
Old rat snake oil
She’s ready to strike 
She’s all tensed and coiled
What’s not to like 
About old rat snake oil
I just drink a big drop
Spread the rest on the skin
If she still doesn’t stop
I’ll just apply it again.  

I won’t be her fencing foil
While I’ve  got my old rat snake oil.

She might still have a fang or two
We had a good thaing but now I’m through
I’ve had too much of her trouble and toil
I’m pulling out the last of th’old rat snake oil 

Jhaffur khan azad darakth 2023

Rat Snake Oil

set in Raag Shivranjani this little jaunt should turn your heart in to a rhubarb brain 
jhaffur khan azad darakth: bansuri, melodica, djembe and cajon
Joel Banner Baird: Godin Moses  guitaram and bass

Dilrhubarb

swing along to this campfire favorite
jhaffur khan azad darakth: reeds, percussion
Joel Banner Baird: "blondie" electric guitar and acoustic bass

Nodulariousity

a shimmering fugal song all summer long
jhaffur khan azad darakth:  alto saxophones, percussion
Joel Banner Baird: acoustic bass

Iridescant

Shine your tail it's skink's big night out
jhaffur khan azad darakth: silver flute and drums
Joel Banner Baird: acoustic bass and guitar

Skink's Night Out

Coated with cunning jungle butter, listen as if your ears depend on it.... unwaxed.  
Joel Banner Baird: upright acoustic bass, organ and piano
jhaffur khan azad darakth, percussion, clarinet, Peruvian bird whistle, Laotian jaw's harp, pan pipes, alto saxophone, gourd dove call, Hmong raj Nplaim.

Cunning Jungle Butter

House Of Bamboo

On the occasion of the arrival of their majestic personages this piece presented without presentiment. 
jhaffur khan azad darakth: "french horn", "trumpet"
Joel Banner Baird: cello, acoustic bass,

Flanfare

Widely circulated within post-colonial circles this bit of choice orientalist pomposity: 

the Anglo-Ottoman
charge d'affaires
a wealth of secondary smoke
lies well within his horoscope

Was it only yesterday?
That confounded code!

in parade-ground plaid
the embers and the burble
of a morning hookah
he took and has been had
 
Won’t you stay for luncheon?
stray from script at billiards?
blather to the raja
in ruinous prose?

[ad-lib ruinous prose]

misremembered polo clubs,
thrashed ponies and their squires;
a mismatch in the Levant;
a royal bash, a royal hash of empires

Was it only yesterday?
That confounded code!

I merely wish to humbly inquire, Sire
amidst the devestating wreckage 
of your crumbling empire: 

Was it only yesterday?
That confounded code!

Joel Banner Baird: lyrics, acoustic bass and guitar
jhaffur khan azad darakth: duduks, clarinet, voice and drums

That Confounded Code

Always all-new. Spontaneously composed. Impossible to ignore.

That Confounded Code

Orchestra naïF

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