An awareness of music began for me watching classic movies of the forties and fifties – 1944’s Laura comes to mind with its haunting theme song – on Saturday afternoons with my father while he mostly slept on the couch when I was a child. That provided an early exposure to jazz standards, later to be filled out with Broadway cast albums – Funny Girl and West Side Story were favorites; layer in rock and roll, Motown and folk as a teenager; country music when I worked on a special project at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville; add in orchestral music working for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in the seventies; and pop a cherry on top with jazz in more recent years.

If you are at my site, then you love music too.  You know that a good melody strips away our differences, unites us, thrills us, soothes us and causes joyful outbreaks of dancing.  Music says what we cannot put into words, brings us back to another time with full clarity, and refreshes our souls.  To the musicians of the world, thank you is hardly enough.  What they need most are listeners like you and me.  So, go forth and amplify!