His voice was so deep it set the glasses to rattle on the table, and when he laughed his eyes were almost swallowed by his jolly cheeks.
But it was when he sat down at the piano that he come really alive.
You’d never think fingers so thick and calloused could move like that, drift with such grace over the keys like he was barely touching them.
Even more surprising was the music itself, magical and thundering and sinuous and hilarious.
You could feel your heart pulling right out of you, your feet set to moving all on their own.
Dear Josh,
What a wonderful character construction, in few words. I want to find out where he’s playing. As for the voice I went to “You Want it Darker” by Leonard Cohen.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks, Rochelle. I was thinking of Fats Waller and Doctor John, neither of whom look much like musicians at first blush.
Or Tom Waits. ;)
A great character, Josh
I wish I’d been there to witness it!
all the earmarks of a true musician.
Great stuff, the character really comes alive with your description of the piano playing. Well done.
I can imagine the character really well – your description is great. It’s not easy in a 100 word story.
He sounds like quite the larger than life character!
Oh, how I longed to be able to play the piano with such magic and grace in my hands. Never quite reached that pinnacle, but I’ve had fun on the journey :)
A beautiful characterisation. Very well done.
So beautifully you described the man and his music.
Beautifully done, Josh. I love it when an artist comes out and shocks us because we don’t expect them to deliver what they do!
What a vivid description… He could look like anything as long as his fingers make magic
You’ve chosen an excellent voice for this, Josh. And I loved the descriptive writing.
Ah, I wish I could play like that.
Love hilarious used to describe music: very thought-provoking.
Lovely character. Encore please.
The rhythm of this works with the story, it has a slight musicality to it which makes me imagine the pianist even more clearly. Lovely story Josh
Thanks, Lynn
My pleasure Josh
Wonderful evocation of the pianist. I love how you’ve described him.
I love his description in the opening paragraph.
One of the best fiddler players I ever heard had fingers the size of bratwurst. I was amazed at how he could play an instrument with such a small neck with fingers like his. But I guess talent comes in all sizes & shapes of packaging.
The description of the character tells so much about him, but the description of the music–hilarious–makes me be in the scene, tap my feelt, laugh an clap (in my head, I’m not that crazy.) Great writing.
There is great description. The characters of both the musician and the listener really came through very well.