Symbol Analysis
Music is way important to this poem, so it makes sense that musical instruments get a lot of mention here as well. Each of the musicians that figuratively accompanies our speaker on his walk are associated with a particular instrument (as they were in their life and art). As they play it in his ear, they bring that instrument figuratively along with them on the walk.
- Line 13: The saxophone is the first instrument mentioned in the poem. The sax is the instrument that's most closely associated with jazz, so this line clues us into the fact that the speaker is listening to jazz.
- Line 18: In this line the speaker refers to Tommy Potter playing the bass. He makes it sound as if Potter is right there walking next to him playing. This gives us a sense of how the sound of the instrument itself makes the speaker feel super connected to Tommy Potter: the music brings them together.
- Line 21: The "cumbersome drums" that the speaker refers to here are being played by Arthur Taylor. Yeah, we guess they'd be hard to schlep on a city walk. Still, by imagining Taylor maneuvering the streets with his drums, the speaker again emphasizes the way that the music—in this case the drums—make him feel connected to the musician.
- Line 23: Here the speaker imagines Thelonious Monk "motorizing" his piano so that he can wheel it along and play it next to the speaker as he walks. (We can imagine Thelonious tootling around on a piano with a bunch of wheels and a lawnmower engine.) The piano is another staple instrument of jazz music. Again, by giving us a picture of Monk wheeling along his piano on the street, the speaker gives us a sense of just how powerful the sound of this instrument is in his ears. It's as if the piano is right there, being played next to him.