Chas, interesting and wow Shirley Scott your former teacher. Very cool to say the least. I had no idea that she was married to Turrentine.

It may look like an occasional "Obit Column" but I don't mind. A story about a guy like Freddie Hubbard may only occupy if at all a small space in my local newspaper and I may not be aware of it until many months later.

I thought I’d drop off a quick note in here before I start my day.

I “give” on this one. I thought about it all morning and I’ve determined why seeing postings like this bothers me so much.

It reminds me of my own mortality. I took what I call my “law of opposites” and figured it out like this. If I was a young man of 21, 31, 41 etc would this issue bother me? The answer is “no.” But since I’m well beyond 21, I don’t want to be reminded that one day I will be the one being listed somewhere!

You spend your whole life getting good at what you do (music) and when you finally get there……boom…..you’re gone. It’s not fair, but that’s the way it is. So the best thing I can do for myself is avoid seeing references to death and dying and dead. And when I do see them, remind myself NOT to emotionalize!

Lucky

Chas.....

I just now read this.

Now, what I'm interested about is how you arrived at that conclusion?

Perhaps you skipped over the previous line which reads:

"For those of you who are going to argue my point...this is MY opinion. I’m not saying this is the way it should be, but that this is the way I would prefer it to be."

You write: "Everything seems to be about how YOU see it"

Me: “much of what I write IS about how I see it...no different than anyone else in this room.”

You write: "how YOU prefer things to be"

Me: "absolutely correct...I was never a follower. I think a lot and I express my views a lot. Again....no different from anyone else in this room."

You write "what YOU want SZ to be about"

Me: "May I ask what is wrong with that?"

You write: "in other words, YOU, YOU, YOU. The world in general and SZ in particular, has no obligation to conform to what YOU want."

Me: "If you look at my postings, I don't believe I ever demanded that the SZ "conform to what I want." If YOU feel it does, then I'll have to be more careful about how I "word" my postings from now on."

In real life, I'm actually a very open-minded individual who enjoys viewing and debating an issue and hearing the viewpoints of others (the qualifier being when they're not laced with hostility!).

Lucky

Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. Shirley, who had a Master's degree in music, taught music at Cheney University which was walking distance from my house. As a side gig, I was a consultant to their IT dept. (such as it was) and knew the then president socially. My cousin was also chairman of the Sociology dept. there at the time. I knew and socialized with a lot of the staff there but knew Shirley already from both (Philly's famous) Settlement music school and as an active musician on the Philly music scene. The 'lessons' were mostly "tips and tricks" and jams at my house on my trusty ol' C3. I learned a lot and therefore loosely refer to her as 'my teacher'. The Black music community (with a few White musicians such as guitarist Pat Martino and a few others) in Philadelphia at that time was very close-knit and almost everybody knew everybody else. The number of really great musicians coming out of the Philadelphia area at that time was phenomenal. Most moved on to obscurity in New York and LA but some, such as Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff, Groove Holmes (Camden, NJ), Shirley Scott, Grover Washington, Jr., etc. went on to bigger and better things. With the demise of the major Jazz clubs, the music scene changed (as it did in most cities). I could go on (and on, and on) but I'm sure you're pretty bored by now. Just waxing nostalgic.

chas (of the over-the-hill gang)

Chas, no boredom at all on this end. Love to hear those stories. I've been a fan of McGriff, Smith and Groove Holmes. We got to see Groove Holmes at Sculler's Jazz Club in Boston shortly before he passed away. It was a great show, probably about 75 in attendance in a mid size lounge. We had great seats and he could see his every move.

While it may be disconcerting to be reminded of our own mortality by reading obit postings I really think that posting about the passing of great musicians isn't out of place on a music related forum. I hadn't realized Freddie had passed away until I read it here so I appreciated being informed. Yeah we are all gonna die sometime but I try not to let that get to me. But also I do appreciate I am Lucky2Bhere ... and am glad you are all here with me too.

Just occasionally, one of these obits might point you to an artist you hadn't heard before, or an artist you had long forgotten, and remind you how good they were.

That can't be a bad thing, can it?

Not to worry FIRST you have to reach the heights of a Freddy Hubbard or Eartha Kitt before you show up in a forum obit.

Diki...up until now I've had a lot of respect for you, even though I never heard you play.

I'd appreciate if you'd let me hang on to how ever much of that respect I have left.

Lucky

...edited out as promised. Thank you Nigel for allowing me the brief platform.

Lucky

[This message has been edited by Lucky2Bhere (edited 01-02-2009).]