Jazz for the Asking Blog

I was driving down the road yesterday, on my way to somewhere in a hurry. It is January, which means it is cold and snowy here in NY. I was thinking about what I had to do when I got where I was going, thinking about all the things I had to do today, this week, this year, it seemed almost overbearing.

Then a tune popped into my head. I heard the first few bars of So What by Miles. Perfect. So what I had a lot to do and I was running around like a fool. Life is to live, not to run from one meaningless task to another. So what I was going to be late for my appointment, the people would wait, it wasn’t the end of the world. So what if I was driving a 10 year old truck with 174,000 miles on it, it works, it gets me where I am going. So What.

That is why I love Jazz. It seems that at the right moment, an appropriate song arrives to describe my feelings. It is all about feelings, how the music moves the musicians who created it and play it. How the music moves you when you listen to it. To this day, when I hear Summer Time no matter who is playing it, it reminds me of living in California. Watching the sun set over San Diego bay.

I think about the lives that these guys lived. Many of them overcoming great difficulties, things that I could never possibly know about or understand. Many of them addicted to drugs or alcohol or both. Many truly talented lives cut short by an errant life style. I cannot say whether these things made the music better or worse, but I know that without them the music would be different. Strange Fruit indeed.

The next time you are listening to your favorite tune, thing about the person who wrote it, who is performing it. Think about all the effort that went into that song, be it 4 minutes or 12 minutes. The artistry, the beauty, the sadness and joy.

That is what Jazz means to me.

If you like watching video’s of great Jazz artists, especially older material of Jazz greats like John Coltrane, et al, then check out Jazz Tube. This is essentially a site with links to You Tube, but what is nice is the artist are all alphabetized, so you can find something quickly.

There is really some great stuff on there, like this:
John Coltrane, Alabama Jazz Casual

I always liked Kurt Vonnegut, I read Slaughterhouse Five when I was in high school and it was my first exposure to black humor. It was a book that I will never forget.

Kurt was a fan of Jazz, grew up in Indianapolis Indiana during the depression. He used to go to Jazz clubs and watch the musicians play when he felt depressed himself and always felt better for do it.

Once, during an interview on NPR, he said:

If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC