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Dr. E Douglas Pratt
About Me
My Jazz Story
My intro to jazz was from the roots. At 7 years old, the big hit record was "How Much Is That Doggie in the Window". Bored with that sweetness, I twisted the radio dial and
discovered a man yellin' about "red hot rock 'n roll... boppin' at the sock hop... to soothe yer sorry soul!". I got goose bumps over what turned out to be African American roots music.
As a teen I picked up guitar and learned Delta Blues, Piedmont Blues and other Folk Music. Folk Rock. Blues Rock. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, and John Mayall's "Turning
Point" led me to jazz. First to Elvin Jones, Charlie Christian, Louis Armstrong's Hot Five, John Handy, Richard Davis, and beyond to Bai Conte and traditional West African Kora &
percussion. At each point since I was 7, I was feeding my passion, a quest to meet my extended kinship network of African-American musicians and their ephemeral art of surprise.
My House Concert Story
I'd listened closely to the first two Weather Report albums for a few years. When they were in my hometown of Buffalo, New York, 1972 I believe, at a small venue... well I was there. Up front & center, early. They surpassed the recordings as live jazz often does. But their unique energy, colorful stage presence, their intuitive communication using novel combinations of unusual sounds... Airto Moreira... their eccentric rhythms, changes, playing with the spaces between the notes... took the music of surprise to a level I'd never experienced. The room become a temple of spiritual ecstasy. I was clean, soaring on a naturally psychedelic plane.
