It's Sunday and I have the day off...a rare treat working in retail sales. Doubly so because this is the first Sunday of the month and that means Jazz Jam! Okay, let me explain. Where I live there is an organization: Community Jazz Center of Greater Des Moines (CJC). Its mission is very simple: to promote the learning of Jazz Music to area high school students. Every month, the first Sunday is reserved for a live Jazz Jam session at a local coffee house. Here, area students can come and sit-in with a house band made up by local professional musicians. As a student more than 40 years ago, I remember my reluctance in wanting to play while there was another student waiting for a lesson. It wasn't that I was particularly shy, rather, not very confident in myself. Tony, my teacher, explained that I would have to get used to playing in front of others. That was a lesson learned well. Today, 46 years later, I am still playing in front of others. And, as with any lesson worth teaching, I pay it forward by watching todays novice stumble and fumble---earning my "Thumbs up" for a job well done. I know their anxiety. And I also know the reward. Several years ago, on the first Sunday of the month, I went to hear what the Jam was all about. I sat quietly at a table and drank my coffee. Most of the kids I listened to were pretty good. This was cool. "Are there any drummers here today who would like to play?"
I looked up and saw in front of the stage a lady speaking into the microphone. Without thinking, I raised my hand. "Well, come on up." she said. After a few introductions, I sat behind the kit. "What would you like to play," she asked. The guys in the band, keyboard, guitar and bass, looked tentatively at each other. "Autumn Leaves, guys, upswing. I'll take the head for eight bars." With that, I attacked the hi-hat. Two tunes later, I vacated the throne as the band took a break. The bass player approached me and asked that I stick around so I can play another tune with them. It was a good Sunday. Before I left the coffee house, the lady overlooking the jam session called me over to her table.
"Who do you play with," she asked.
"Nobody," I answered.
"You're to damn good not to." Two months later, she introduced me to the CJC Big Band. They were looking for a drummer. That was 5 years ago. I'm still playing with the band. And whenever I have the first Sunday of the month off from work, I go to the jam session, listen with great appreciation and pay my respects to this wonderful lady by sitting in for a tune or two.