Jazz

It’s all my parents’ fault. It was Mother’s Day, 1990 (I think that was the year.) It was a Sunday. We took mom out to McDonalds’ for breakfast. My dad’s favorite radio station, usually Classic Rock programming, was featuring its Sunday Jazz Brunch. After almost a minute of his “what the hell is this shit” mumbling, dad switched it off. By the time we got home, it was over. But the next weekend, I got up early, and listened through the whole thing. A lot of it was what’s played on NYC’s “Smooth Jazz” station. Some of it was Swing/Big Band. Nice stuff, but nothing really moving. But I taped a lot of it off the radio anyway, cause I wanted to hear it during the rest of the week.

Then it happened. A few weeks later, I heard The Trumpet. That’s when I discovered real Jazz. Miles Davis and his Quintet playing a live version of “All of You.” The song was over 14 minutes long, and I got it on tape. It took me a decade to find the CD. In that time, I checked out every Miles CD I could find with songs that were over 10 minutes long, and anything with the name “All of You.” All the recordings of that song sounded NOTHING like the one I taped off the radio years ago. While I did find a lot of great music by Miles, including my all-time favorite (In a Silent Way), I was still frustrated. But then, I started looking for live-recordings only. I’d forgotten that one little part.

“Miles Davis: The Complete Concert 1964. ‘My Funny Valentine’ + ‘Four’ & More.” This was it. The song I had spent ten years looking for had finally come into my possession. The February 12th concert was a benefit for the registration of black voters in Louisiana and Mississippi. It was performed in what is now called Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center, the same building where my SVA graduation ceremony was held. I didn’t know it at the time, but for a brief moment, I shared the stage with my favorite musician.