Patrick JB Flynn

I love jazz because life. I was first exposed to jazz as a young person through my father’s love for Nat King Cole’s vocals. I met free-jazz musician, Roscoe Mitchell, as a photographer (Joseph Blough) and visual collaborator in Madison, Wisconsin, 1981—. The best shows I ever attended were Roscoe Mitchell perfomances in Madison. Previously, saw Dexter Gordon play in New York, Jazzmobile in Harlem, 1979, while a fire burned in a building on a street behind the audience. Mr. Gordon made a thing of improvising with the brazen blare of fire engine sirens. The first jazz record I bought, while attending art school in Minneapolis, was Dave Brubeck’s “Time Out.” My advice to new listeners is open your ears, your heart, AND your mind. Or whatever else you have in mind—Love is the answer, jazz is the way.