(This was some Brick’s Picks first draft copy that I dumped but was saved because I was tracking changes (one of those Microsoft Word things).Alas I rarely tracked the changes. I used to write up entire columns and trash them without saving a word. Just hit delete and start all over. I haven’t a clue about context here, what I was trying to get at, it’s just an oddity. Makes me wonder how many of the 300 columns I have drafts of contain  miniature essays like this hidden away. I think this is from 2008.)   

It doesn’t help things any that jazz is such an in-the-know kinda thing. I mean…some cat you never heard of is some place you’ve never been to and how the hell were you even supposed to know it was happening, whatever it was…but damn man, your best jazz buddy and a whole table full of way cool players you really dig are telling you that man, it was the shit…but hell, how was you supposed to know about it? But that doesn’t mean you didn’t miss it. You did. All those amazing sounds…all that crazy inspired heavy stuff…and yu were home doing who knows what. But you did miss it. That’s jazz, baby. You either know what’s happening or before it happens, or more likely you just happen to stumble into some joint when things are absolutely elevated. But unless you are deep in the know, a lot of the names here—maybe most even—you’ll know nothing about. It’s not like John Coltrane will be appearing in corporeal form, or that Bird really does live. No way…most of the big names are gone or faded. So a list of Angeleno jazz is like a menu in a Chinese restaurant and all you can do is pick something and hope that it’s good.