By Walter Price

This summer I went across this great country of ours to get the pulse of the nation. I wanted to hear from jazz fans and non-jazz fans from all over the country to get feedback for this column. I meticulously gathered and collected answers to questions jazz fans in general want to know. So here it is, my first cross-country pulse of the nation state of jazz survey. All I can say is that some of these results will be encouraging to jazz fans while others will be quite disturbing. [Note: some of the answers to the survey was gathered orally so I had to write them down later in pencil from memory and maybe I didn't go cross country physically to gather a good sampling of answers; maybe I went cross country in my mind. So please take that in consideration when you read some of these results!]

• 9 in 10 people stated they bought the new Headhunters CD just because of the cool cover.
• 7 in 10 go see Herbie Hancock play in concert to hear him play "Rockit."
• 10 in 10 went to see the Count Basie Orchestra the past year to see Count Basie.
• 9 in 10 wake up in the middle of the night disturbed and agitated because they hear that world record note by Kenny G. playing in their eardrums.
• 10 in 10 believe that Kenny G. is still holding that note.
• 9 in 10 believe Swing is the greatest thing that has happened to jazz in the past 10 years.
• 10 in 10 believe Swing is a fad interest that will fade in 1 or 2 years.
• 2 in 10 believe there is a jazz radio station in their town.
• 8 in 10 believe jazz radio played in the car while driving is the number one cause of drowsiness and sleepiness that results in major car accidents and fatalities every year.
• 1 in 10 have seen the BET jazz channel.
• 3 in 10 have seen a UFO.
• 5 in 10 believe Charles Mingus is the guy who played the Chinese caricature detective Charlie Chan.
• 9 in 10 say that Astrud Gilberto sounds just like a woman.
• 6 in 10 believe free jazz means you don't have to play that well.
• 10 in 10 beginning trumpet players said they started playing by "puffing out their cheeks."
• 5 in 10 believe Louis Armstrong never played the trumpet.
• 1 in 10 believe Sun Ra's real name was Herman.
• 9 in 10 can't tell a difference between the alternate takes and originally released takes on jazz CDs.
• 7 in 10 believe Wynton Marsalis was almost electrocuted by accident when he was a small lad.
• 9 in 10 believe Dexter Gordon was acting in the movie 'Round Midnight.
• 10 in 10 secretly hope Charles Manson will get out on parole to become John Tesh's "number 1 fan."