How we cite our quotes: (Line)
Quote #1
With Sonny Rollins for company,
his music flowing through the soft calipers
of these earphones (3-5)
The speaker introduces us to the fact that he's listening to jazz through his earphones. By saying that he has "Sonny Rollins" for company, he's suggesting that he is very intimate with Rollins (and his music). Already, we're getting a sense of how important music is to this speaker.
Quote #2
is surpassed only by my gratitude
to Tommy Potter for taking the timeto join us on this breezy afternoonwith his most unwieldy bass (15-18)
The speaker's words here suggest how grateful he is for the music he's listening to. Tommy Potter's bass guitar (and Rollins' saxophone) are giving him something. They're making him feel good about himself and the world. In speaking of his "gratitude" to Tommy Potter, the speaker suggests that music (and jazz specifically) is a gift that we're given. Also, by speaking of Potter "joining" him on his walk, he gives a sense of how close he feels to this musician, and the others he mentions in the poem. It's as if they're right there with him.
Quote #3
and to the esteemed Arthur Taylor
who is somehow managing to navigate
this crowd with his cumbersome drums (19-21)
And here we get Arthur Taylor, the jazz musician, joining the speaker on his walk. Of course, the speaker isn't speaking literally when he says that Taylor is navigating "this crowd with his cumbersome drums." But by imagining him walking next to him with his drums, the speaker again gives us a sense of how connected he feels to Taylor and his music. Music is a bridge that links the speaker to the drummer.
Quote #4
And I bow deeply to Thelonious Monk
For figuring out a way
To motorize – or whatever – his huge piano
So he could be with us today (22-25)
In these lines, the speaker presents us with an image of the pianist Thelonious Monk, who he is also listening to on his earphones, "motoriz[ing]" "or whatever" his piano. It's as if Monk has his piano on big wheels and is wheeling it down the street along with the speaker. By giving us this physical image of Monk and his piano, the speaker suggests again just how connected he feels to the music and to the musician playing it.
Quote #5
This music is loud yet so confidential.
I cannot help feeling even more
like the center of the universe
than usual as I walk along to a rapid
little version "The Way You Look Tonight," (26-30)
The speaker gives us a sense of the contradictions of the music that he's listening to in these lines. It's "loud yet so confidential." It's brash, but it's also intimate. And what's more, it makes the speaker feel like he's on top of the world. These lines give us sense of just how transformative music can be. It changes the speaker's outlook on himself and the world, and it makes him feel happy.