TranesHuman

I grew up without jazz. I wasn't exposed to jazz until about three years ago when my best friend finally got me to check out some jazz albums. He had been working on me awhile, but for some reason I had been a little resistant. I picked up John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and Jimmy Smith's "The Sermon" at his recommendation. I was hooked. I caught a video of Miles Davis and Coltrane blowing on "So What" and ran out and picked up "Kind of Blue" that very day. I found a couple of discs by Dave Brubeck and Dizzy Gillespie in a pawn shop. I'm just sick about all the years that I missed out on listening to jazz. If someone had exposed me to Coltrane's music when I was younger, I might not have given up the saxophone. Still, I'm thankful that I did discover what I was missing. In a short time, I've managed to see Arturo Sandoval, Wayne Shorter Quartet, Roy Haynes' Birds of a Feather Quintet and the Dave Brubeck Quartet live! Now, the homeless guys, where I work, call me the Jazz Man because that's what I'm always playing while I'm working in the dayshelter.

John Coltrane is my favorite artists and he was one of the artists who got me hooked on jazz. (Jimmy Smith was another.) About two years ago, a black and white cat showed up at the homeless shelter where I work and I took him in. I thought John's nickname made a wonderful name for him (Sylvester would have been too easy), so Trane is my cat and I'm his human. It has turned out to be a fitting name. I can't let him outside because he has feline luekemia so when he gets pent up energy, he runs through my apartment like a force of nature and that's how I would best describe Coltrane's playing. My Trane is one hip cat. Literally.

Let me confess that I've only been listening to jazz for about three years, so I'm probably easy to impress and certainly no expert. I bought the Dreyfuss album primarily because I like Kenny Garrett and my buddy, who helped get me hooked on jazz, has been recommending Petrucciani to me for some time. I really like the tune, "Tutu," as well.

I've been wearing out Miller/Petrucciani/Lagrene/White/Garrett - Dreyfus Night In Paris. I'm not very familar with Michel Petrucciani, but he blew me away on this album. Does anyone have any recommendations for future Petrucciani purchases?