Carole Garton

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and interview with some old favorites in the world of jazz and improvised music, the people who made music to get from A to B, the music that influenced generations and inspired other generations, the artists who will forever add their voice and their style to this little corner of memory. A lifetime of taste and experiences, the musicians I’ve had to know for over 75 years, have given me a sense of the musical language in which their era’s music was made. My wish is that others will enjoy the discovery and many, many wonderful discoveries.

It was with joy and excitement I sat down and listened to music that was 50 years ago. I have been an avid listener of music for a full decade. Within that time, I’ve lived in and around the South Beach area of Florida along with the beach front and beach town of Fort Lauderdale. The recording of my life has taken place in this very place and near the sea, specifically watching the waves break against the sand as a jazz great’s deep, rich tone often drowned out the instruments.

I’ve listened to many of the great jazz vocalists and the pianists alike that had so much impact on my youth, the ones I would love to listen to as an adult, with time. And somewhere I’ll find a recording of Pete Mabie‘s beautiful, but sad voice, or Jackie Richardson‘s beautiful singing voice, or Cecil McBee’s dark, soulful words. Or maybe I’ll be graced with the chance to hear Elton Dean‘s soulful whisper on a long term loan from C&M.

Even before playing the piano I grew up with the piano as a primary musical instrument. This left me taking sax and clarinet as secondary instruments, adding them to a classical program, for reasons of expression, creativity, and composition-not unlike the classical lovers of generations past. As a child playing the harmonica, my exposure to an instrument that was not my own, made me long for an instrument that I would be familiar with, or that I would be able to play. The trumpet struck me the same way.

My first piano teacher taught a “taste” for jazz and song composition.