Jazz at the Senior Center

I've attended a jazz seminar at the Tisbury Senior Center for the past few weeks. The seminar leader, Les Stark, has a collection of over 400 albums, some of which go back to the 1920s. He's had a good mix of songs, ranging from the very well-known to the somewhat obscure.

I was surprised that the first session drew thirty people, much more than the typical ten or so at many Senior Center seminars I've attended. The second session drew about forty and today the attendance topped fifty. I suspect today's crowd came to hear swing. And swing we old people did. Jack Burton and Carol Carrick and others even danced to a few numbers.

This seminar has been a trip down memory lane for me. Many of the songs trigger memories of listening to Symphony Sid on an obscure Boston radio station after I came home from class. Others remind me of wonderful summer days and nights spent at the early Newport Jazz Festival.