Comment

Comment by Jennifer Tracy Kessler~HALF PINT on September 10, 2008 at 8:39am

Hey Bigtrigger~ lovelovelove the blk/wht pic...just dynamite. i have yet to spend time in philly, but it will happen. growing up in a non-musical home in the Arizona desert didn't lent itself to laying Jazz at my feet...yet, we (Jazz and I) were meant to be and thus are! it just took about 30+ years to officially meet. it's all good b/c i believe even a "late-bloomer" like myself is a worthy member of the pack. in fact, i think it's likely that i was a jazzy b/4 i actually new it. make sense?

just know, i think you are inspiring and eachtime i hear from you...I AM LEFT WITH A GRIN ON MY ALREADY SILLY FACE. thanks for that...it's powerful.

talk soon,
HALF PINT
(yeah, I like that nic-name too)

Comment by Bigtrigger on September 10, 2008 at 7:46am

Yes indeed Half Pint, those good old "Liner Notes" I would get so focused on the notes that I would forget to turn the records over sometimes. The subconcious mind is something else. Who would've thought that I was being educated about jazz, appreciating the music and improving my vocabulary all at once? George McClementssurprised me by saying he spent time in Philadelphia (where i'm from) Philly was/is such a hot bed for the arts in general but jazz in particular. Coltrane, Brubeck, Bird, Getz, Shirley Scott, Pat Martino just to name a few, all either lived here or were born here. I was always listening to the music or meeting the makers of the music. Check out this picture of my parents with a good friend of my family

Comment by Jennifer Tracy Kessler~HALF PINT on September 8, 2008 at 8:30pm

George~What a colorful, rich journey you have had thus far. As different as our journey's are, we both end up in the same place twice over...1)here at The Jazz Network and 2)JAZZ deeply rooted in the heart. Such a pleasure to be able to peek into your past and find out where "it" all began. Thanks for that, GM.

Comment by George McClements on September 8, 2008 at 7:44pm

I grew up on rock and roll, but while in art school in Philadelphia a fellow student invited me to a jazz club where saxman Odean Pope was playing, that was the beginning of my love affair with jazz. I was fortunate to be living in Philadelphia in the early 80's where I got to see many jazz musicians live, including Miles Davis, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers with Wynton Marsales, Pat Matheny and more, as well as going to the little h*** in the wall clubs like Gerts in South Philly.
I moved to South Beach and was exposed to Afro Cuban jazz where I got to hear the likes of Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Cachao
A few years prior to Hurricane Katrina I moved to New Orleans where I could hear great live jazz and blues seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Unfortunately I was forced to move after Katrina and relocated to Los Angeles where luckily there is a thriving jazz and blues scene.

Comment by Arthur Schroeck on September 8, 2008 at 12:49pm

My children were exposed to my 2 passions, music and comedy One is a rock and classical musician, One is a comedy writer and one is a violinist. They are all in there late 30s and quite successful.

Comment by Jennifer Tracy Kessler~HALF PINT on September 8, 2008 at 12:00pm

Arthur~thanks for commenting. Did "it" find you or was "it" found...well, knowing it's true love, I would say
you found eachother! And to be exposed to Opera, as well...you lucky devil.

Sometimes I only wish I had grown up in a house of JAZZ...though my love is naturally deep, my hunger for knowledge is great and thank goodness I have PASSION and energy for it considering I'm a single mother of 2 little ones. There are many late nights in my private spot where I have no interuption to explore, taste, like, dislike, try on for size and grow in the world of JAZZ. Basically, it is my version of your "growing up in a house of jazz"...which is something I am exposing my children to by playing Cassandra Wilson, Miles Davis, Ella, Billie, Anita, Blossom, Diane Reeves...and the list goes on. Knowing music stems from the Blues, I expose my kids to Ray Charles, BB King, Taj Mahal, Koko Taylor, Ruth Brown and so on.

!

Comment by Arthur Schroeck on September 8, 2008 at 10:44am

I grew up in a house of jazz. so I don't know if it found me or I found it. My father also listened to the Sat. afternoon Met broadcasts so I found opera or it found me.

Comment by Jennifer Tracy Kessler~HALF PINT on September 8, 2008 at 9:57am

love this response. i can see the scene you set and feel the warmth of this powerful memory.

liner notes...you bring up something very important here. with so much music being downloaded, what happens to the liner notes...my 2nd favorite part to the music?! i have much to say about this and when i return this evening i plan to. bottom line...I WANT MY LINER NOTES. They have and continue to teach me much, which is why I almost never download my music. I prefer to have the cd version with the cover art and liner notes!!

Bigtrigger...thanks for your kickass comment.

~HALF PINT

Comment by Bigtrigger on September 8, 2008 at 8:54am

Very good question. Jazz found me. Back in the day, oh around 40 yrs ago, my parents ran a speakeasy. Yeah that's right, we used to have selling parties. We had an eight foot pool table that my pop made a reversible slate top for. Poker on one side and craps on the other in our finished basement.They had a bar fully stocked down there and my Mom cooked the most fantastic meals. And me? I was the "Record Guy" I stayed upstairs, of course and was asked to play the music that my parents wanted to hear. Coltrane, Miles, Ella, Duke, Count, Sassy, Nancy and the list went and continues to go on and on. While listening to this music I used to read the "Liner Notes" you know, the album inserts which went in depth about the artists and jazz in general. Hence, my education into jazz began. I've been collecting jazz ever since.

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