I mean - when was the last time that you actively listened to music? When listening was your sole activity? When the music you listened to received your undivided attention. No TV, no magazine, no liner notes, no casual conversation, no doing the dishes, no alphabetizing in your mind (by author) the last ten books you read. When you just focused on listening to the music, nothing more.

Maybe the last time you saw music live. But even then, there are distractions. Visual distractions, like watching the strange faces the musicians make while playing, or the really cute waitress/waiter. Aural distractions like the turd at the bar who just HAS to make that call on his cell phone in the middle of the trumpet's ballad feature. Tactile distractions, like the uncomfortable bar stool you've been perched on for the last two hours, or the ridiculously small table you're seated at and the ridiculously large patron seated next to you.

Any distraction takes away from the music, what the music is trying to say to you. Jazz, when practiced as an art form and not merely as an amalgamation of stylistic features, is art music. Serious art music. It is not background music (though it often winds up serving this function), but music which is deserving of the listeners full attention. Even jazz music which has roots as popular music (say, the Nat King Cole Trio), by some fluke became popular music ("Take Five" or any of the famous Stan Getz bossa nova hits), or was intended originally as dance music (Count Basie) has profound subtleties which can only be fully appreciated after detailed listening, and which can nourish the soul with its riches.

I suspect that there are any number of reasons why this type of listening doesn't take place more often. With the incredible dearth of music education in the schools, people aren't taught the basic vocabulary of music, and so don't have the tools to do the type of critical examination I'm talking about. Also, our society doesn't place much value on activities that don't produce something. Sitting and listening to music doesn't hold its weight in the acceptable activity category. We can do nothing and watch TV, but to tell someone that we are listening to music is somehow more unusual. You may sit around with your family and friends and watch TV, and it's a quite normal scene. But when was the last time you were with a group of people who sat around and put on a CD? And just listened, didn't talk? (If a lava lamp was involved it doesn't count). It's normal to want to sit someplace where you won't be disturbed to read a book. But it is somehow more rare to put yourself in some type of isolation to listen to music, to deprive those other senses so that listening is the focus.

In our increasingly volatile world, I would like to suggest just this type of listening. It may provide you with some moments of calm. You may find music which speaks to you in new ways and provides information on how to cope. You may find in the forms and structures of the music that "thing" which might lend form, structure, ultimately meaning to your life, on a deeper level, a grander scale. Or maybe you'll just find some new song that you really, really love. No matter what, I can almost guarantee dividends if you do a little of this type of listening. Listen to anything you like, but listen closely, attentively, with complete focus. You response may not be different, just more, hopefully. It's not a call for the music to do something different than it always has for you, just for your experience to be deeper, have greater meaning, lead to a better understanding of the music, perhaps. Here are a few suggestions.

Listen to one song over and over again, several times, looking for new things every time. Look for subtleties in sound production, tone, phrasing, dynamics. They're all there. Focus on one instrument throughout the whole tune. Listen to the bass, or listen to the hi-hat (especially if Art Blakey is on drums!). Listen for moments of synchronicity in the rhythm section, those special moments when the whole group is thinking as one. Listen for the structure in a solo, the way a player builds his ideas. Develop an appreciation for how things are put together. Listen for the craft. Then listen for the art - what the players are saying. Then listen as you realize that the two are inseparable.

Or perhaps you could limit your listening for a week or a month to a small group of songs or CD's. Dig in and really try to discover all that the music has to offer. Grab a CD that you bought a while ago, listened to but didn't like much. Go back to it and see if there's something there that speaks to you this time. Put yourself in the musicians' shoes. Try to imagine why they did what they did. What are they trying to say? What musical goals are they trying to achieve? What is novel in their approach and how successful were they in hitting their mark? Did the music not succeed or does it simply not speak to you? Try to make a distinction between something that you don't like for aesthetic reasons and music which you think really doesn't work that well. It's ok to not like something, but it's better to understand why you don't. You may find that you can develop an appreciation for music that you don't like, and this in turn may open up new listening vistas for you.

Maybe you could go to a CD that you bought for one particular song, but never paid much attention to the rest of the CD. You listen to that one song all the time, but there may be hidden gems you haven't uncovered yet. Pick another track from the CD at random and listen to it intently 3 or 4 times in a row. See what you find. Odds are, if you like something by an artist, his/her other work will speak to you as well.

Or listen to something that you like, but that you never really thought about why you like it. You never verbalized what the appeal is for you. Listen analytically - see if you can identify reasons you think it's good. Don't worry, a little analytical listening will not deaden your emotional response to this piece of music. Ultimately, it will heighten it. Maybe you always responded to the visceral energy of a tune, or simply the sound of the band. Maybe there are other factors at play. You might uncover structures which are satisfying that you never knew was there. You are of course free, after this exercise, to forget your analytical reasoning and just go back to enjoying it for the sheer visceral thrill. But you may find that you were unconsciously responding to features that were there, and a better understanding of these features will only grow your appreciation.

There are a few ideas, I'm sure you can come up with more. How about you email me with what you've been listening to and what you found there. We'll meet back here next month to compare notes. Some of the things I might be listening to:

• Jimmy Rowles' duets with Ray Brown, to appreciate his beautiful touch and his wonderful surprises.
• Ornette Coleman's recordings with Dewey Redman, and the way Ornette builds beautiful structures and Dewey hollers at you, and how the two approaches balance each other.
• Rosemary Clooney singing the songs of Irving Berlin, and how you can't beat a great girl singer and a great song, and how you don't have to go over the top to put something across.
• Joe Henderson's Blue Note recordings, for pretty much everything.

Who knows what else, but I'm certainly going to do my part to look for the deeper beauties in whatever I listen to. This is all I ask from you. Just that you listen. Listen closely, listen well. But whatever you do, listen.