William H. Snyder
Moon River - Old dream maker you heartbreaker wherever your goin' I'm goin' your way.
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About Me
3 Philly Generations came before me in Philly. I lived there for half a century. Now a Phillyboy in Denver. Could have had Bill Gates(not that I admired him) type money if I knew how to go from technician to businessman. BTW money ain't what it's cracked up to be. Made it, lost it many times over. Ahh the good life - to quote a Tony Bennett line - is all about family. 2 sons, 2 granddaughters. Done some travelling and found that life can be rich wherever you go. The I Ching is my teacher and I follow the Tao. AKA as WindBear.
My Jazz Story
Grew up in the days of "Kind of Blue" "Waltz for Debby" Buddy Holly Chuck Berry and Bob Dylan. As a white boy in the suburbs listening to Sid Mark, Joel Dorn and Gene Shay on 96.5, WHAT-FM broadened my perspective on American music and culture. There was rock'n'roll - Georgie Woods, the guy with the goods - and folk but jazz became my national anthem. Biggest jazz disappointment was the night Thelonious Monk didn't play at Philly's Showboat. My college friend and I sat at the bar while Charlie Rouse et al pleaded with him to come down from the mezzanine rafters and play. He had driven down from NYC with Baroness Panonica but decided against playing that night in the mid-60's. Rufus Harley and his bagpipes joining Trane, McCoy, Elvin and Jimmy on stage at Pep's. Driving to the Village Vanguard in NYC with my bride-to-be and Best Man to hear Bill Evans. Between sets he stopped at the table and asked, "Enjoying the show?" Show? We'd just heard/witnessed mastery and genius at the piano. Swore to go to Newport after seeing Bert Stern's "Jazz on a Summer's Day." Went with the bride-to-be and slept in our clothes across the way in Jamestown. Can still hear Duke's "We love you madly" at show's end. Watching the sunset over SF Bay at Yoshi's with Mose Allison before his first set. A moment in the TAI CHI LIFE. Riding the elevator with Ella to the Rainbow Grille atop Rockefeller Center.. What an unassuming powerfully talented woman. Marc Johnson's introduction to his wife Elaine Elias at Yoshi's. He mentioned that I met Bill Evans and said my name was Bill. She replied, "Of course it is."
