About Me

Although I call myself “thejazzmonger,” I don’t play, sing or otherwise perform in any fashion. My mongering is strictly as a fan. I was born with a deep appreciation for music, all kinds of music, but no talent whatsoever.

I listen to music almost all the time. When I come in the house I will often turn on the music before I take off my coat or even put down any parcels or mail I might be carrying. When I designed and built my house, I wired it for cieling speakers in the kitchen, master bedroom, downstairs office, garage and front porch. I can pipe the music from my main system to any part of the house, and even outside for yard work.

While Jazz and Swing is the primary topic of this blog, I listen to a little of almost everything:

• Lots of Big Band and Great American Songbook from the 30s, 40s & 50s
• Rock ‘n Roll Oldies from the early 50s through about 1964 (especially the DooWop era)
• Classical (Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Vivaldi, Ravel, Corelli, et al)
• Dixieland
• Chinese, Japanese & Native American flute
• Chants (love Trio Medieval & the Tibetan Monks

So you can see, I am all over the place. Although I like some of the old Classic Country & Western, people like Patsy Cline, I don’t listen to the newer Country much.

I like to read and approach that pretty much the same way as I do music. I’m open to lots of genres. I read a lot of history, some science, politics, modern novels, poetry, detective stuff. I am nuts about John Sandford’s books, especially the Lucas Davenport series. If you have never read any of his, start with Rules of Prey and then follow the books about Lucas in sequence.

I invite your participation herein. If you would like to be a contributor, to whatever degree, shoot me an email at jazzmonger@yahoo.com and let’s discuss it.