remembering being a jazz snob

i always say it was punk that made being a fan fun again, after i'd given up on rock and started going to monday night wrestling at madison square garden instead of rock shows, but in reality, it was discovering jazz in the mid-'70s that got me stoked about music again: reading gary giddins in the village voice and later, rafi zabor and bob blumenthal in musician magazine, and ordering stuff from the new music distribution service catalog. also seeing a very subdued mingus with jack walrath, ricky ford, jimmy rowles and dannie richmond; the gateway trio (abercrombie-holland-dejohnette); sam rivers with bob stewart and bobby battle (all of the above at stony brook ca. '76-'77); tony williams with the "lifetime" incarnation that included allan holdsworth at my father's place; cecil taylor and mary lou williams at avery fisher hall; and old and new dreams (ornette alumni) with arthur blythe's in the tradition at town hall the first time i went back to ny in '79. those and the connecticut station that usedta play four hours of ornette 'n' related musics every sunday. stirring times.