To Celebrate Trane's B-day ... a fav of mine !!

A NEARLY Perfect moment ...

On the CD player is title track of "Stablemates" from

the Early Trane CD set I bought yesterday.

.

In my hand is a fine coffee picked up from

the coffee shop in town,

where as I step in the door,

my morning coffee:

Prairie Blend, Black Xrta-Large,

it is poured and then offered with a friendly smile

and a warm hello by the beautiful staff

BEFORE I even have to ask ...

.

(I was late getting there today - THEY noticed)

.

... and as I sat savouring the coffee, the music,

and this extra-ordinary moment I read:

.
In America, the first generation out of slavery

invented Jazz music. It is a free-form expression.

It comes from the soul, and it is TRUE!

.

In this moment, listening to Coltrane,

it's hard to argue ... it's moment to savour

and to linger in ...

Why I'm proud to be a dad ...

It's no secret that I love the music of John Coltrane ...

Since I first heard the haunting strains of his rendition of "My Favourite Things" almost twenty years ago, I have loved Coltrane ...

In the last couple of years my collection of Coltrane CDs has expanded to be in the several dozen ... when I hit a high end record store, or a book store with a specialty record area (Like McNally Robinson in Winnipeg) I browse through the Jazz section looking for hitherto un acquired Coltrane albums ... I've discovered a number of delightful albums that are part of my regular listening agenda.

Most recently I've kept a supply of my Jazz albums in office where I can indulge in my audio pleasure, while working on the computer ... even the daily drive to and from Brandon is punctuated by the soft tones of Coltrane ... It helps ...

But this weekend I had a moment where my inner world and my day to day world came together in a delightful way ...

While at the Conference in Winnipeg, my cell phone rang and Ms H's voice greeted me with a short concise "Hi ..."

"Hi," I replied.

"Can I borrow one of your Coltrane CDs?" she asked.

"For what?" I held back my surprise and growing delight.

"For a presentation at School," she replied, "I want to do a report on John Coltrane."

"Cool," I said, a broad smiling crossing my face, "sure go ahead and use it."

There was a brief pause before Ms. H spoke again, "Did you KNOW that his birthday is the same as mine?"

"Yes, I knew that," I said feeling very happy, "that's why I've always hoped you would be interested in Coltrane's music ..."

"Cool ..." came the reply followed by a hasty "Bye" and the addendum of "oh, I love you ..." followed by a click ...

Today I asked her how her presentation went.

"Good," she said, "but the boys weren't interested in the music ... they started fidgeting."

"Heathens," I muttered under my breath. Instead I said simply - "their loss!"

Ms Ha nodded in agreement.

So in honour of Ms H, I offer a clip I found recently on Youtube of Coltrane and Miles Davis cuttin' it up with a rendition of "SO WHAT" ... enjoy: