Steven J Hodge

I love jazz because it can always change. I was first exposed to jazz by my father playing Charlie Parker LPs. I met Flora Purim, but our conversation was superficial. I was only 19. I bumped into Ornette Coleman in a stairwell, and I was speechless, too, but I got to mingle with his performers in a dressing room afterwards. The best show was actually a weeklong Ed Blackwell festival in Atlanta in the late 1980s. So many great artists and lineups! The first jazz record I bought was Thelonius Monk - Straight No Chaser. My advice to new listeners: if you are young, then please enjoy high fidelity when your ears can hear, but do protect your ears as hearing loss and tinnitus never retreat.