He saw himself as a horn player blowing one long note

Nico Segal is the trumpet player for Kids These Days and today released a solo project called Illasoul: Shades of Blue. The concept is a mix of jazz and blues trumpet with spoken word and hip hop. The idea probably started with Kerouac's 1959 epic Mexico City Blues, but has received little mainstream attention since then. I've included a recording of Ginsberg discussing Mexico City Blues and playing from a recording of Kerouac reading the poem.



Mexico City Blues 239th Chorus

And how sweet a story it is
When you hear Charlie Parker
tell it,
Either on records or at sessions,
Or at official bits in clubs,
Shots in the arm for the wallet,
Gleefully he Whistled the
perfect
horn