James Koblin

One of my earliest memories is spinning my parents LP's in the basement of my childhood home. From them, I inherited a love of music, but not jazz; they were rock fans, and I grew up listening to The Stones, Dylan, and Hendrix. Music changed for me on a sleepless summer night surfing around the radio dial, when the needle landed on WKCR (89.9FM in NYC). A student DJ was playing entire Blue Note albums, back to back, and reading the liner notes from the flip side of the LP. I had never heard radio programming or music so free of commercial motivations, and it opened worlds for me. I was quickly hooked and was soon buying Eric Dolphy, Jackie McLean and John Coltrane albums as fast as I could afford them. Experiencing live jazz only deepened this love, especially seeing Max Roach with his quartet at the Village Vanguard. Sitting up in front of the hallowed basement next to Roach's bass drum left a beating in my heart and a sound in my brain I'll never forget. Today, I continue to celebrate and idolize the jazz artists who are expanding the vocabulary of this music and keeping the "sound of surprise" alive. I also appreciate the devoted community of fans who support this music. Maybe I'll see you at the next show or we'll chat at the next Bandcamp listening party. Check out my writing about music at thenecessaryblues.com or listen to my radio show "Where Is Brooklyn?" at WVKR, 91.3FM in Poughkeepsie or wvkr.org on the web.