It was going to be a slow lazy night, I'd decided. I'd looked around the audience, and though some were still arriving, there wasn't much to get up for. The fat guy with the beard was obviously a jazz fan. He was, at least, paying attention. I smiled at him and nodded. The first two numbers had been a bit rough, I thought. That was usually the case, though. It took awhile to get into the right mood. Some nights you never got there. It looked like this was going to be one of those nights.
Marcus had launched into 'Autumn Leaves', weaving a just recognizable melody around the song's falling chord progression. I listened to his playing, with admiration. As usual, he was technically flawless. On this night, though, he sounded mechanical. Near the end of his intro, I picked up my horn, looked up and saw her.
She burst in like a gust of cold air in autumn. Talking animatedly to her companion, she seemed agitated. I watched her purposeful stride. She wore a long red skirt, slit above the knee. It danced around her like eddies in a wind. Her thin white blouse revealed a full pair of breasts barely contained by a lacey black bra. Around her neck, she wore a rope of vintage pearls, beautifully framed by her long straight hair. My heart stopped for an instant and my throat constricted, forcing me to swallow hard. Generated from some primal emotion, a surge of electricity shot up my spine from my cock to my brain and my knees buckled. I watched her take her place beside her companion and missed my cue. I looked at Marcus and Kerry, the Bass player. They were playing already into the next chorus, anxiously waiting for me to start. I put the horn to my lips and released some notes. After the first few messed up notes, my playing became inspired. During solos, I thought of her, seeing her naked body in my mind. In between solos, I watched her from my perch on the stool.
It was clear that she was not happy with her companion. They seemed to be arguing over something and it was clear that she didn't even know I existed. No matter, whether she knew or not, she was inside me stoking my fire. My solos soared, taking a direct line from emotion to horn. The rest of the band, affected by my passion, was also cooking.
After dinner, the lights went down. The girl in the red skirt argued more vehemently now with her partner, as I wailed to Gillespie's: 'A Night in Tunisia', causing him to become increasingly furious. He left eventually, with a flourish, knocking his chair over on the way out.