Hello ladies and germs. So, I am still religiously watching the PBS Jazz series. It just seems to get better and better. And more and more relevant to the way I look at music. For instance, tonight Artie Shaw said he was disappointed with how perfect everything Benny Goodman's orchestra played was. He said "If you never make a mistake, you're not pushing your limit." Now, I believe in necessity of letting the music get out of your control if you want to rock. You see why I'm flipping out about this.

I like that term "flipping out" by the way. (This is a short diversion from the topic.) (Sorry.) The first time I heard it was at a sleepover when I was five with my neighbors Michael and Jaren. We were channel surfing, and we passed some movie where all the people were getting trapped in a medical facility, since the emergency doors were all sealing off to prevent some kind of outbreak. Michael had the remote, and changed the channel quickly. Jaren and I protested, but Michael said that he'd seen the show before, "and all the people just start flipping out and it's lame." Now, for me, I was particularly disappointed, 'cos I thought that the people were really going to start doing flips, and that would be cool. Oh well, live and learn.

So, back to Jazz. Let me just share with you another quote that directly effects my view on music. Once, while being interviewed, Duke Ellington was asked where the inspiration for his songs came from. The Duke replied, in his eloquent way "From dreams. All I do is dream." The interviewer said "I thought you played piano." "No," Duke said and began to play the piano, "This is dreaming."

Exactly!!!

Also, once Ellington was asked if he was upset that most of the hotels at which his band was playing wouldn't allow them to stay in a room or even eat dinner there because of the color of their skin, he said "No. I took the energy it takes to pout and wrote some blues." Everything he says is right in my book. And his music ain't too bad either.

Its kindof interesting now to think what a profound effect this whole introduction to Jazz is having on me already. I sit down at my piano or with my guitar or saxophone, and in my head I'm thinking that I, too, am amongst these great musicians and adding my own part to the story. Not that I have the audacity to compare myself to those geniuses; I'm just... "dreaming."