Round Midnight

Is it in 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 at the airfield in Paris, don't you?

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 it was all those memories

that made Dale leave for Paris that Friday morning.

Maybe what he saw in Hershell's eyes

was too frightening and too familiar.

Come on, baby, be careful over there. Try to hold on.

My 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 the hell do you know about Paris, Ace?

You don't do nothin' but stay in that damn room

in your robe and slippers, cookin' 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 livin' in Harlem.

Oh. Hello, Butter. What are you doin' in Paris?

You feelin' real good, ain't you?

Fine as wine.

You better get yourself some rest, 'cause you got to play tonight.

Dale?

Mesdames et Messieurs , we're gonna celebrate

the Maître du Saxo Tenor,

a man who has influenced so many musicians throughout the world,

and a man who has definitely influenced...

-Okay. -...us on the bandstand.

A little ice,

-a little ice in the berg. -Please welcome Mr. Dale Turner.

Hi.

How are you?

Doing great, huh?

-What the hell is this? -What do you think it is? 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.

One cognac, two beers.

He's really great.

Yeah, but he could at least stand when he plays.

He could be on his back, he'd still be great.

Yeah? Just like you?

Not on my back. I gotta be on my front to be great.

Hello?

No, we're full tonight.

Try around 2:00 a.m. for the third set. Bye.

I must be invisible in here.

Look, we gotta cut anyway. We got 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,

uh, conviviality.

-Hey, Ben. -Forget it, Dale.

- Madame Queen, how we doing? - Hello.

Here it is.

I took out the two packages of Pall Malls

and one extra Coca-Cola Dale had, right?

Hey, could you spare 500 francs?

No? Ah, well...

Hey! Can you open up?

Can you spare 500 francs?

-Shut up. -Don't be an asshole. What's 500 francs?

I'm stuck. I've gotta buy a train ticket.

Come on, 500 francs isn't much. You gonna give 'em to me?

Scram! if I had any cash, I'd be inside. So get lost!

Asshole.

Yeah, I was in this joint.

Come on, I gotta get you in this taxi and get you home.

-Check you out tomorrow. -See you tomorrow night. Take it easy.

-You all right, babe? -Yeah.

What are you doing there?

I was scared.

Of what?

Don't do that to me.

Don't do that to me.

Where were you?

I went out to get cigarettes.

He played like a god, that Dale Turner.

Oh, you're open all night, huh, Ace?

I need the advice of a expert, a real expert.

I want you to try this.

Where did you get jambalaya herbs in Paris?

Oh, 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?

Well, I got three weeks across the river.

Hey, how long you gonna be at the Blue Note?

Well, as long as they'll have me.

Well, listen, I'll fall by sometime if it's okay with you.

All right? Here.

Enjoy that.

Ace.

Buttercup.

Do 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 Rico... -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.

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.

- Good evening, gentlemen. - Good evening, sir.

Good evening. A beer and a coffee.

Great.

You know, I know you.

I mean, your music, your composition, every recording.

This guy's a fabulous tenor.

The best.

That's true.

Yeah. That's true.

You, Bird, Bud Powell, Lester Young,

you have revolutionized the music.

You know, last time you play 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 ten 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 over there? -Fine. Pretty slow over there though.

Yeah, but it's not slow over here. Not for us.

How you doing?

-Say, Eddie. -Hmm?

-How long you been living here, man? -Quite some time.

Matter of fact, I'm married now to French chiquita here.

Oh, man, how you doing? Can you speak the local bebop?

Man. I'm trying it. Don't have it together yet.

But she's beginning to speak some American. Loves it, you know.

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 plaît , I would like to have the same thing he had.

Hey, man.

You want to come upstairs?

What the hell you want him to do? Read you a damn bedtime story? Come on in.

I have a kid. She sometimes wakes up in the night.

Yeah, I remember it rained pitifully that day.