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i am grateful for JAZZ


anybody who knows me knows how much i love jazz. from Miles Davis to John Coltrane. Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald. These artist serve as muses for me and their music lifts me to the highest of highs. i bask in their sheer genius regularly and could not imagine my life without their unique musical offerings.

i remember exactly when i fell in love with jazz. i was in elementary school and  my music teacher, Dr. Andrea Montgomery, took us to Jackson State to hear a live jazz band. they were absolutely magical. i remember that was the first time i saw a plunger used to muffle the sound of the trumpet. i was deeply intrigued and it was precisely at that moment the fire was lit in me.

when the band director asked if we knew what the local jazz station was, i was proud to be the only one who knew the answer. my first encounter with jazz gave me a headache, quite frankly. it was just so chaotic and i couldn't keep up. i was about seven  of eight years old at the time and was with a family member who had on WJSU. now i grew up in a very religious home where nothing but gospel music was played. so this introduction, as apropos as it was, was the beginning of a love affair that continues to this day. 

the ambassador of jazz himself, Wynton Marsalis, writes in Moving to Higher Ground: How Jazz Can Change Your Life (2008),  
"Science says the only constant is change. But to swing is to alter how we experience that change. The musician's relationship to time can be of ultimate assistance to you in: 1) adjusting to changes without losing your equilibrium; 2) mastering moments of crisis with clear thinking; 3) living in the moment and accepting reality instead of trying to force everyone to do things your way; 4) concentrating on a collective goal when your conception of the collective doesn't dominate; 5) knowing how and when to expend your individual energy."
powerful, is it not? jazz means everything to me. i love to sing it. i love to listen to it. i love to let it move me to tears. it has been one of the defining forces of my life. for this reason alone am i grateful for it.

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