Everybody remembers where they were when they first heard about it.

It may have been a TV or radio news flash, or it may have been a whispered word from a friend, or it may have been the sheer force of an explosion ten blocks away. Suddenly the people of the United States were forced to forge their way through death, disbelief, shock, outrage, and vengeance.

Though it's by no means universal, most Americans these days simply feel pain. And a desire to move ahead, to prove to the world that four crashed jets can't stop this proud nation. But we've also awakened a bit: the solution to this problem lies just as much inside our country as it does outside our borders.

Since Jazz and New York are so tightly interwoven, we've taken a time out to look carefully at how the terrorist events of September 11 have affected the people and the music we love.

Jazz artist Gunter Hampel's Witness Report documents some powerfully moving observations on the attack, starting with an account from 100 yards away on his bike. These are some of the most stark, immediate reflections we've found anywhere.

Our usual Philadelphia correspondent, Donald True Van Duesen, offers a very personal angle in his N.Y. State of Mind, viewing the City through the prism of song. He closes with some poignant words from Gordon Jenkins' tone poem Manhattan Tower:

"I knew that I would return, that I must return, for I left my heart behind in that tower, that tower in Manhattan."

New York @ Night correspondent David Adler presents his own Special Report: a first-hand description of the Manhattan disaster as it unfolded. Along with a couple of Biblical references and some personal thoughts on the political and military repercussions of these acts of terrorism, he wrestles with the question of where to go from here.

Peter Madsen turns the tables a bit and simply offers an inspirational poem from about eight centuries ago, written by a mystic scholar from Afghanistan. Read Cry Out In Your Weakness carefully, and perhaps you'll find some comfort in the universal nature of human experience.

Marshall Bowden puts it bluntly in the title to his piece: I Love New York. Our Late Night Thoughts on Jazz Columnist presents a metaphor of the City as a magnet for Jazz, both past and present. He concludes that nothing should interfere with our return to the place and the music we love.

Jeff Fitzgerald, usually our resident wise guy, shows his serious side this month with My Country 'Tis Of Thee. Many Americans experienced "TV Fatigue" after endless TV briefings and disaster reports. Well, Jeff works at Circuit City, if you can imagine how much worse it was there. But he manages to get beyond the images into the heart of the matter with a singularly visionary statement:

"The power of all art is transcendence."

And we can't agree more with that. A moment's reflection with the right music can help restore a healthy frame of mind. We'll do what we can with the rest.