I was reflecting on why I don't remember hearing stuff like this on TV back then, and realized that maybe it was because I was in the 3rd grade, and we didn't have a TV yet! My Dad did have a few Jazz LPs, but it was Dixieland and stuff like Louis Armstrong, Dina Shore (that's right, she had some early jazz recordings), Lena Horn and Julie London. Three years later I got a sax, but Rock'n'Roll had become King, and my tastes leaned toward rockabilly. With a background like that, it's no wonder some of us older steelers have a tough time with modern jazz. But living in John Coltrane's home town, I'm workin' on it.

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Student of the Steel: Zum uni, Fender tube amps, squareneck and roundneck resos, tenor sax, keyboards

Steve Allan was a serious musician,
and the most prolificly published songwriter
of all time.

Not surprised he had Miles on his show.
Before the networks got too stressed about ratings numbers.

One of the best bands of this genre ever.
No weak sisters : Just the BEST players of their time all together.
COOL... or Pre-Cool!!

[This message was edited by David L. Donald on 31 May 2006 at 01:32 AM.]

I grew up about two waves down the road, just barely post-Beatle invasion. According to revisionist movie soundtracks and historical rewriting, I should have been listening to soul music, Hendrix, the Woodstock nation, but that all came a bit later for me - when I was young, my radio was playing the Strawberry Alarm Clock, The Grassroots, and Tommy James and the Shondells. There was a brief period back there where bands like the Allman Brothers and Yes could actually pack stadiums playing primarily instrumental music, but it wasn't long before cloning killed the spark - the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers became their own cover bands, and the "jam bands" cloned the noodling without the passion & intent.

LOL, Chuck Mangione and George Benson, I can do- but even the great uneducated masses can tell that Kenny G ain't jazz.

Dizzy Gillespie was born just across the line in Cheraw, SC, only about 20 miles from where Coltrane was born.

Coltrane got his first exposure to music in church. Both of his grandfathers were ministers. One cannot overestimate the influence of the southern church (African-American, in particular) on the development of modern American music.

Good to know you've got some roots down here- you just moved up a couple of clicks in my estimation!

Oh, and I should've taken the opportunity to remind everyone that the great Tal Farlow was from Greensboro, NC

That is some great stuff. Thanks, David!

[This message was edited by Rick McDuffie on 02 June 2006 at 05:14 AM.]

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Student of the Steel: Zum uni, Fender tube amps, squareneck and roundneck resos, tenor sax, keyboards

I heard an NPR documentary last year on "Kind of Blue." It still sells 5,000 units a month even though it was recorded in 1957!!!!