I reckon I'm a jazz cat, or at least a kitten. As is the case with so many, my portal into jazz was Miles Davis--fusion first (I believe Jack Johnson and Bitches Brew were the first two jazz LPs I bought, in the early 1980s), then the immortal 'Kind of Blue' shortly thereafter. I am a newspaper columnist, and for years I've relied on Kind of Blue as the soundtrack when I write. For the next decade and a half, I slowly added to my collection, mostly the immortals--Monk, Coltrane, Ellington, Coleman, Parker, Holiday, Armstrong, etc. But I was still mostly a rock and roll cat, buying at least 10 rock LPs for every jazz LP. In the past couple of years, the balance seems to have tipped. Now I tend to buy a LOT more jazz LPs and my collection has grown exponentially. Still, it is the tip of the ice berg at 500 LPs. Virtually every month I discover someone new that I just love. This month it was Sam Rivers and Don Pullen. Next month, who knows? It is simply a thrilling adventure. I'm now as likely to reach for Cecil Taylor's "Conquistador" as the Stones' "Exile on Main Street."
If all that makes me a jazz cat, then 'meow'...