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John, I listened to the link. My eyes may be opened. It is quite beautiful the way it fits together. Thanks for the encouragement and path. I’ve never really even given it much of a chance. I am quick to call it pretentious. Yet in a sense it is anything but pretentious when I watch/listen to Tuba Skinny. Then listening to the Bill Evans clip I was listening to music in the act of being creative.

So I’ll go once again to see if I can allow myself to expand a bit more and let it in.

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Jim, I have come to think that when someone says something is pretentious, they don't understand it. They don't "get" so it's pretentious. The word has entered the cellar of meaningless words.

I grew tired of rock fairly early. I did always know Dylan was a genius and liked other singer-songwriter music. Then I had a friend and he introduced me to jazz. It took a few listens, and then I was hooked as usual I dived full of treading and listening to what I could afford. It is truly America's classical music. I grew up in the same town as John Coltrane. It was a bit of a local story when he died.

As for listening, I wouldn't start with Coltrane's major works. He's a giant but is challenging in his great albums. He made a few much more accessible albums, one with Ellington and another with singer named Johnny Hartman, which is perhaps the most romantic album ever made.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecrE80rnjhw

I went through a period when I was obsessed with Art Pepper. A bit part of it is he wrote the best book about addiction there is. I guess De Quincy is one but I haven't read it. The memoir is called "Straight Life: The Story of Art Pepper." Truthfully, he's not a major figure. He didn't change jazz the way Louie and Parker and Coltrane did, but he is one of the best alto sax guys ever. Here is a link to a short album. The story is he was hung in his house doing dope and his manager arranged for Miles Davis's rhythm section to wake him up. They did this little album in one day and it's a classic. Some simple and accessible and he could always let you know where his life was in solo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16OoypHXcps

I honestly think his memoir is a giant book and not just for the drugs stuff.

I have tons more suggestions and anecdotes and such. Jazz has been with me through everything. It is intimate the way other musical forms aren't. I know you're an Angelina fan. It's the jazz in her voice that makes her different than anyone. She has said Billie Holiday was where she started.

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I almost forgot the Modern Jazz Quartet. So simple and pretty with still creating rhythms like no one else.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I41N50GGkPE

The "Dentist" sketch from The Carol Burnett Show -- Tim Conway made his scene partner, Harvey Korman, laugh so hard he later admitted to peeing his pants.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=9IUSM4EKcRI

Great movie, tough scene.

https://youtu.be/VTAXQYic9uU?si=PTMMii5INgd8OZ0n

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Thanks for this James. I've let this movie slip away from me. Tense scene, clash of minds. Art vs.artist. I'm with Tar.

Coincidentally, I finally got around to watching the AppleTV series "The Morning News". I had heard it was good. Five minutes into episode one this scene happens and it made me sit up and pay attention. I'm now two episodes in and it's got some good writing and good acting.

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I'll check out that link, Jim. I just saw that you posted. When I first saw the movie, I admit that I was distracted. Didn't watch it all that closely and thought it ran long. But, I was wrong. Cate Blanchett is just terrific, I love her. That scene got my attention. She is correct, or her character is correct, but notice that she hangs her head at the end of the scene. And it's kind of how I feel about it. The student isn't wrong for questioning what we hold in high regard, but he can't see beyond his own limitations, too, and in fact calls her a "fucking bitch" at the end of the scene. Which of course undermines his whole point of view. And his leg shaking throughout was a nice touch.

Burton's voice has been it for me. I first saw a broadcast of his Hamlet when I was about 15, and I was hooked. Stardom and celebrity ruined him, sadly; in his memoirs he laments that by the time he was old enough to play Lear his body was so weak that he could not have carried Ophelia. [Edited in: Cordelia. Oops.]

Or Cordelia, for that matter! ;)

Alcohol ruined Burton.

This is magnificent!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001qt49