C. Michael Bailey

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I was first exposed to jazz through my Depression-era parents who listened to big band and swing music before and after World War II. But the big band and swing music of my parents' experience was that of Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, and the Dorsey Brothers. There was no Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cab Calloway, Jay McShann or Fletcher Henderson, only white bands. My first brush with jazz came in high school when I tired of the '70s rock, wanting something more and different. I began to read about jazz and classical music and from that purchased a copy of Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and Carlos Kleiber and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's performance of Beethoven's Fifth and Seventh Symphonies. This exposure incubated until college where one professor deepened my interest in classical music, and another introduced me to West Coast alto saxophonist Art Pepper whose Art Pepper + Eleven – Modern Jazz Classics showed me that big band music needn't be square. I favor the older forms of jazz, but am grateful that there will always be more of this music to hear and learn about than time to do it.

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