Music Appreciation

Those guys are three of my main musical touchstones. Like you, I consider Monk my personal hero.

Have you checked out The Jazz Loft Project (www.jazzloftproject.org)? There are incredible photos and recordings of many great musicians of the 1950s and '60s, including Monk leading rehearsals for the seminal 1959 Town Hall Concert. Robin Kelley's biography of Monk is also a great read.

I personally know two people whose lives were literally saved by listening to John Coltrane's music. For me, his music (especially the recordings with the "Classic Quartet" featuring McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones) has been profoundly inspiring.

Miles Davis is the artist who, more than any other, led me to begin drinking deeply from the eternal spring that is jazz. I continue to enjoy music from every one of his "periods," and am amazed at how fresh he and his bands continue to sound.