Is it the same room where Hershell died?
I don't know, Francis.
Same raggedy drapes.
This crummy wallpaper.
They all look the same.
All I remember...
...it was a Friday...
...the last time I saw Hershell.
You still playing those weird chords?
Yeah, still at it, Lady Hersh.
How's you feeling?
You drive people wild. They can't follow the tune.
Yeah, I know.
Then you be out of business.
You ought to listen to me more. Folks like the way I play.
Well, yeah. They do.
I'm going to Paris, Hersh...
...tonight.
What's that gonna fix?
You remember Paris.
It won't change the way you play.
No cold eyes in Paris.
Can't you talk the way other folks talk neither?
You know who's gonna be waiting for you in Paris.
You.
If you had seen Hershell and Dale play together, Francis...
...it's something that you could never forget.
It was so new and so different, and yet so close.
Maybe all those memories made Dale leave for Paris that Friday morning.
Maybe what he saw in Hershell's eyes...
... was too frightening and familiar.
Come on, baby, be careful over there. Try to hold on.
Goodness gracious. You're almost up here. Come on! It's only one up.
Needs a little something, Lady Ace.
It needs okra.
You can burn, but you don't always eat.
And you know Dale loves Paris.
Be the greatest city in the world if I could just find some okra.
What do you know about Paris, Ace?
You do nothing but stay in your room in your robe, cooking all day.
At least I'm doing it in Paris.
I got something for you.
So what's new, Lady Ace?
This is better than living in Harlem.
Hello, Butter.
What are you doing in Paris?
You feeling real good, ain't you?
Fine as wine.
You better get yourself some rest, because you got to play tonight.
Dale?
We're gonna celebrate the Maître du Saxo Tenor...
...a man who has influenced musicians throughout the world...
...and a man who has definitely influenced us on the bandstand.
A little ice, a little iceberg.
--Mr. Dale Turner.
They're doing great.
What the hell is this?
What? I lost a button.
-Really? -Yeah.
Get it fixed.
-I don't sew. -I don't either.
You're telling me.
Come on, Charlie. Wake up.
He's really great.
-On his back, he'd still be great. -Yeah?
Just like you?
No, I gotta be on my front to be great.
Yeah. I must be invisible in here.
We gotta cut. We have another set to do.
Yeah.
Hey, you half a motherfucker...
...can I have another vin rouge?
Well, this establishment has never really been known for its...
...conviviality.
Hey, Ben!
Forget it, Dale.
-Madame Queen, how are we doing? -Hello!
Clap hands, here comes Butter
Here it is.
I took out the...
...two packages of Pall Malls and one extra Coca-Cola Dale had.
Come on, I gotta get you in this taxi and get you home.
See you tomorrow night. All right.
-You all right, babe? -Yeah.
Oh, you're open all night, huh, Ace?
I need the advice of an expert, a real expert.
I want you to try this.
-Where'd you get jambalaya herbs? -I travel with it all the time.
Man, you crazy? Gotta have it.
Oh, you're slick.
You betcha!
So, Lady Ace...
...where are you working now?
I got three weeks across the river.
How long are you gonna be at the Blue Note?
Well, as long as they'll have me.
I'll fall by sometime if it's okay with you.
All right? Here.
Enjoy that.
-Ace. -Buttercup.
You know what I need?
I need a new reed.
A Rico number three.
Well, can't you blow through what everybody else do?
No.
-Well, even Bean uses a reed-- -Listen, I ain't Bean...
...or anybody else.
Well, I'll get it...
... because you been good.
Was good tonight.
That's what they tell me.
Just like before.
Well, it's almost light.
I guess I'll go for a promenade.
I love...
...Paris
In the...
...springtime
Oh, the mad scientist!
The answer is no.
Ben, just one vin rouge.
Buttercup says no.
Buttercup is really not my mother. Come on, man!
Makes you sick, Dale.
Not good wine.
Just don't serve me that stuff you serve your customers.
-Great. -Thank you.
Hey, man, can you buy me a beer?
Yeah.
Yes.
You know, I know you.
I mean, your music, your composition, every recording.
Yes, that's true.
You, Bird, Bud Powell, Lester Young...
...you have revolutionized music.
Last time you played in Paris...
... I'm in the army and going to Algeria the next morning.
But I want to hear you play so much, I jumped over the wall.
And I got 1 0 days of jail for that.
Do you have enough dough...
...for another beer?
Yes.
This is my friend. He's with me.
Hey, what do you know?
-Hi. -My friend, Francis.
-Yeah, how you doing, man? -Good.
Who is that?
Well, he's an old jail buddy of mine.
-Hey, Wes! -How are you?
-All right. How you doing there? -Fine. Pretty slow, though.
Yeah, but it's not slow over here. Not for us.
How you doing?
Say, Eddie.
-How long you been living here, man? -Quite some time.
Matter of fact, I'm married now to French chiquita here.
Oh, hey, how you doing? Can you speak the local bebop?
Trying it, don't have it together yet. But she's beginning to speak American.
-But I bet the lady can burn. -Did you see this?
She's a great cook.
You know the Dale has been married three or four times?
And we all spoke fluent English.
But nobody could burn.
Say, Lady Ben...
... how about a nice soft one for the Dale?
Nothing doing.
"There's not enough kindness in the world."
You know, I haven't been doing anything hard.
Not even a bonbon. Never.
The deal is no, Dale. No for anything.
But the deal with who?
They always paying all the wrong people in this world.
S'il vous plait, I would like to have the same thing he had.
Hey, man.
You want to come upstairs?
What do you want him to do? Read you a damn bedtime story? Come on.
I have a kid. She sometimes wakes up in the night.
Yeah, I remember it rained pitifully that day.
We were an all-Negro unit...
... with all-pink officers.
One day at inspection...
...this captain found a photo of my wife, who was...
...lighter-skinned and much prettier than his.
So then he made one of those funny remarks and I hit him in the head...
...which really wasn't the way white folks were treated in those days.
So then I found myself in the Camp Polk stockade...
...where they started to do drum paradiddles on my head...
...for some time.
Yeah, I got lucky.
I found this Jewish doctor from New York.
Wow.
Without him, it would've been a catastrophe.
He got me out of the army.
You know, it just occurred to me...
...that bebop was invented by the cats...
...who did get out of the army.
Who wants more? Eddie?
-I got plenty more in the kitchen. -You want some?
-I ain't missing this. -It's good.
-I know. I smelled it a mile away. -Oh, yeah.
You got any butter?
I'm gonna eat with my hands.
Hey, Eddie! What you got over here?
Hey, what's them little red things?
I'll get my own. What y'all serving up?
What's keeping you from coming in?
You bringing bad news, Francis?
Hershell died last night.
Hershell?
Lady Hersh?
-This is not Lady Hersh. -Let me see that.
That's Hershell.
That's the way he looked the last time I saw him in New York.
You are tired, Dale?
Oh, yes, I'm tired...
... of everything except the music.
I can't get it right.
I've forgotten the words.
Autumn in New York
Is often mingled with pain
Dreamers with empty hands
All sigh for exotic lands
But it's autumn in New York
It's good to live it again
A rum and coke for Mr. Turner for being superb.
Hey, next one you pay for.
Charlie, take a break, man.
How's your schedule for next month?
I don't even know about tonight.
You give me a call.
Hey, Dale. I saw you in Chicago. I think you were with Dizzy and Bud.
Think we even had a drink afterwards.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I think I remember now, man.
Listen, you got five bucks?
Hey, Ben, can you call me a taxi?
I thought the duke went out to get you one.
That Prussian faggot was gonna rule the world...
... but he can't find a damn taxi worth a shit.
Where's Dale?
You seen him?
-He was right here, five minutes ago. -Shit!
You're Dale Turner. You play too good for this shit.
I got him, I got him.
My goodness! What in the world am I gonna do with you?
Just like a baby. Got to watch you every single minute.
I invite you for dinner tomorrow night, 8:00.
Ooh, you're a real Tarzan, ain't you, boy?
Are you his wife? Are you his wife?
Are you a fool?
Okay.
Please tell him....
Here is my phone number and my address.
Tomorrow night, 8:00.
Hey, Buttercup, you want some rice and beans?
Ace?
Did something happen tonight?
-To get him like that? -Yeah.
When you have to explore every night...
...even the most beautiful things that you find can be the most painful.
You understand what I'm saying?
All these young kids sound the same.
Just like they had the same teacher.
It was you.
Yeah, me.
And a few others.
You act like my little girl.
You know, one night in Brooklyn...
...this tenor player comes in...
...and he sits down, and he listens.
And then he comes up to me and says:
"I play you better than you."
You know...
...your music changed my life.
I would never have read Rimbaud or any other poets.
Because of your music, I've discovered a lot of musicians--
Francis...
...is there water in this wine?
Yeah.
It doesn't look good, but it is.
Who are your favorite tenors?
Lester Young and Coleman Hawkins...
...and Ben Webster.
And I also used to listen to a Lot of Debussy.
Debussy?
"Berangere."
That's a big name for a little girl.
-Francis? -Huh?
Tell me.
Does Louis XIV still live here?
Oh, no.
He died for-- A long time ago.
Are you sure?
Yeah.
I'm sure.
Berangere waits for me.
But it's a long time before it's light again, man.
Well, Lady Sweets.
Are we ready for tonight?
You half a motherfucker.
Dale, it's me.
Never, never leave Dale in a hospital, Francis.
Yeah, happiness is a nice, wet...
... Rico reed.
Well, checking out without saying goodbye, huh?
Butter...
... I want my passport.
I got it hidden in the room.
Make sure you keep it in a safe place.
Oh, yeah. Francis, you make sure he get to the gig on time.
Hey, Mama.
Want some of these ribs and rice I got in my room?
Sorry, Papa. I only eat kosher food. Have some.
Listen to that, Francis.
The swing bands used to be all...
...straight tonics...
...seventh chords.
And then, with the Basie band...
...I heard Lester Young...
...and he sounded like he came out of the blue.
Because he was playing all the color tones...
... the sixths and the ninths...
...and major sevenths.
You know, like Debussy...
...and Ravel.
Then Charlie Parker came on...
...and he began to expand and...
...he went into elevenths...
...and thirteenths...
... and flat fives.
Luckily, I was going...
...in the same direction already.
You just don't go out...
...and pick a style off a tree one day.
The tree is inside you...
...growing naturally.
I looked away for just a minute and he was gone.
You ain't doing no better than me, boy.
Dale!
You are tired, Dale?
Yes.
I'm tired of everything...
...except music.
I wish I could rest.
You don't sleep?
Oh, yes. I sleep...
... but...
...there's always the dreams.
What kind of dreams?
Well, it's always about music...
...and...
... playing the sax.
The sound...
...and expanding the music.
You know, more and more.
You know, there's been nights...
...when I've been working and playing...
...and at the end of the night...
... I look at my mouthpiece...
...and it's all bloody.
But I haven't felt a thing, you know.
My life is music.
My love is music.
And it's 24 hours a day.
Do you understand?
Yeah.
Do you have sexual relations?
Oh, yes.
Whenever I can.
Lady Francis!
Hey, taxi!
-Dale? -Yes?
When you were talking to the doctor...
... I was listening.
-You were? -Yeah.
Was I good?
Bonjour, Lady Francis.
But never...
... never again, man.
Don't cry for me.
Never again, Francis.
What else can I do...