THE WEEKENDER :) COOL

JAZZ MEMORIES

AND

A TALENTED BRO

Last weeks posting of Dave Brubeck's Take Five

and attendant memories, brought one more from the back

of the brain.

I wish I could remember his name, but I am grateful

to an upperclassman  who lived on my freshman

dorm floor. He walked with a brace, the result of

polio, so he had a single room near an exit. With the

extra space he had converted it to a "pad" complete

with shelves, a chair, lamps and a stereo system.

The room was full of jazz albums and on Friday evenings and Saturday afternoons, when most of us were doing the kind of things college freshmen did, he had his door open and the jazz was wailing.  There were no complaints, though he always made sure he was not interrupting study.

Not a likely event!

A few of us would gather into his room and he would

pick tunes and give us a little tutorial.  One of his

favorites, and already one of mine was the

piece the THE WEEKENDER :) offers for your

Saturday Groove.

  and one more cool thing

About a year ago a group of fraternity brothers who

have stayed in touch, re-connected with Steve

who was a married senior our freshman year.

Steve Clippinger has had a marvelous

career as an artist.  Part of the joy 

in getting to know Steve is to see

his incredible body of work.

Here's a WEEKENDER :) bonus

See you down the trail.

THE WEEKENDER:) TAKE FIVE

THE CLASSIC

Dave Brubeck's TAKE FIVE took me out of a rock and

pop world into jazz back in high school.  I found a 

jazz station on the dial and was hooked, though my

buddies barely tolerated it on my car radio. 

I enjoyed being able to punch back and forth between say,

Satisfaction by the Stones and and Sidewinder by Lee Morgan. When they drove it was all Beatles, Stones,
Beach Boys, Dave Clark Five, etc.  That was fine
but jazz held a special allure.
As a school kid I worked in the downtown area of Indianapolis  as a "stringer" and gofer for the Indianapolis Times and as a board operator for a "fine music" FM station headquartered in an old hotel.  Well the jazz station was on the top floor of another hotel that I passed on my commute.  I'd stop by that hotel, buzz at the studio door and be ushered into warren of an album filled rooms. 
"Look around kid, see what you like." 
The DJ's were not like the
pop star jocks at the rock stations.  These guys were older, both black and white, musicians themselves and
somewhat tickled that a white middle class kid
was hooked on jazz.  
It all started when I first heard Brubeck's piano and Paul Desmond's sax.  
So the Weekender :) wants you to dig it.

See you down the trail.