A black bird with an enormous tan beak stands on top of a piano — an ornate, invented thing in red and green and gold, with two red spirals scrolled across its front. Signed and dated 1969.

Of everything my grandfather painted, this is the one that holds both halves of him at once. Dave Coleman made his living behind a drum kit and spent forty years painting birds. Here the bird is standing on the instrument. Whether he meant the joke or not, it’s sitting right there — in jazz, Bird is Charlie Parker.

Look at the legs: striped, with a small spiral at the joint. That mark turns up in my own bird paintings sixty years later, and I didn’t decide to put it there.

• Print size: 11 × 14 inches
• Original: Painted by Dave Coleman, signed and dated 1969
• Archival giclée on fine art paper

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