Bob McMurray

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I was first exposed to jazz...when I hurt my back moving into a new house and, thinking laying down on a hardwood floor would help my back, I layed down, effectively immobile having put on the radio for something to listen to while I convalesced. The radio station was featuring Ahmad Jamal's album, "I Remember Hoagy, Duke, and Strayhorn" and I lay transfixed and slowly fell in love with jazz. It's been an exhilirating journey every day since!............................................ I love jazz because...it is spiritual (I think of it as "The Holy Spirit's music"), joyful, creative, uplifting and intellectual............................................. I met Tim Warfield, Jon Irabagon, Larry Brown Jr, George Feeman, Mark Ruffin and a host of other great jazz musicians when I produced my own jazz festival. Over 25 years, from 1996 to present, I produce, host, and perform at my own jazz festival called "Jazz Rib Fest" in my backyard and along my driveway in suburban Chicago. For many years I would have three jazz bands perform (my amateur band, a local Chicago band, and a national band I would bring in) along with five "home chefs" from people in my walk of life who would compete for the rib tasting championship. All guests would receive a vote for the "best rib" so, in essence, everyone there participated at some level; which really was the whole idea............................................. The best show (well, actually a series) I ever attended was...pianist Chris White's series of Peanuts Holiday Special Soundtracks by Vince Guaraldi in Chicago. Chris annually performs the full Halloween soundtrack, the full Thanksgiving soundtrack, and naturally the full Christmas soundtrack. He exclusively performs Halloween and Thanksgiving at Winter's jazz club in the Streeterville neighborhood of Chicago while performing the Christmas show throughout the Chicago area at numerous venues. None of them are to be missed. Beyond exquisitely and passionately bringing the music of Vince Guaraldi to contemporary audiences, Chris and his Trio have added an intriguing and electrifying epilogue to the Christmas show by reimagining Christmas songs in the "Guaraldi style", beyond those recorded by Vince himself on "A Charlie Brown Christmas", as if Vince and Lee Mendelson had included them on the original soundtrack album. In 2022, they did "Jingle Bells" thusly and it brought the house down! Chris's devotion to the music of Vince Guaraldi extends to ad hoc shows of "A Boy Named Charlie Brown", timed to baseball's opening day and "The Latin Side of Vince Guaraldi. This series is very, very special and nothing short of sensational............................................. My advice to new listeners...go hear live jazz. Jazz requires an interplay between the stage and the audience. You not only "hear" jazz but you "feel" it in your heart/chest when you experience it live. The audience's energy and response to the musicians' performance provides positive and directional feedback and ultimately inspires the jazz that is created in a recurring, interactive loop. There is no other music form that can say this. This is the reason that jazz is performed, almost exclusively, in intimate club settings and not stadia and arenas. At least in the United States, no matter where you live there is a venue that features live jazz to some level within a reasonable proximity to you.

Over 25 years, from 1996 to present, I produce, host, and perform at my own jazz festival called "Jazz Rib Fest" in my backyard and along my driveway in suburban Chicago. For many years I would have three jazz bands perform: my amateur band, a local Chicago band, and a national band with amazing musicians including Tim Warfield, Jon Irabagon (twice!), Larry Brown Jr, George Freeman, and Anthony Wonsey. As part of the "jazz house" vibe my own "jazz garage band" performs and have become a featured act. As for the ribs, I invite five "home chefs" from people in my walk of life who compete for the rib tasting championship. I provide the ribs, grills, the charcoal, chimney starters, etc. and they provide their process, marketing, and finished product. All guests receive a vote for the "best rib", and a champion is announced. So, in essence, everyone in attendance participates at some level; which really was the whole idea. I'm alos proud to say that my Jazz Rib Fest has inspired some of its guests, who had not known much at all about jazz before, to become jazz devotees.

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