Inspiration from Randy Weston

Yesterday I was very fortunate to attend a talk given by the great jazz pianist Randy Weston-about his life and his music. Here are some of the things that he talked about.....when he was growing up, his parents generation felt it was very important to be "cultured"-so everyone either studied an musical instrument or went to art classes etc., went to hear music and to museums-all of that was a high priority-remember that Randy is in his 70's-and segregation was the rule while he was growing up. His parents also told him to "surround himself with the best minds".
Here are some other wonderful nuggets.....he equated "the blues" with an Egyptian word that meant "ancient memory"........."music is our first language"...."music is out spiritual langauge"..."music is a healing force"....and he said that we have to take music back into the community-get it out of the corporate world. That last one was ironic considering we were sitting in a room on the 5th floor of the ASCAP building ;-) A very inspiring experience! Thank you Elzy for including me!