All I'm saying is so long as Dixon is with us, alive and functional, and so long as there is a Trumpet festival, and so long as that trumpet festival is in New York City, and so long as New York City is 3 1/2 hours by car from where Bill Dixon lives in Vermont, why not just have Dixon perform at the festival again and again and again?

That kind of thing isn't unheard of, is it?

So what if it is?

If I was the 'curator' at a saxophone festival, I would have (had) Sigurd Rascher there every damn year until the day he died--just because.

There is plenty to like about the line up this year's FONT festival. For example, there's the Meridian Arts Ensemble playing the music of Mark Applebaum. You've got to give it up for the Meridian Arts Ensemble. There is definitely room in the world for groups like that, and you've got to admire any group that can continue operations long after the electrical grid has collapsed.

Forbes Graham is playing. I'd like to check that out. You've probably all seen this by now. What's not to like?

Then there's the Leonel Kaplan Tatsuya Nakatani duo. Tatsuya Nakatani can make anyone sound excellent. Not that I imagine Leonel Kaplan needs any extra special help or anything--I'm just saying he has an undeniable ability to make the gig a special occasion.

So yes, of course support the music. Pack every show every night. Yes!

+ + +

Tatsuya Nakatani really is a remarkable drummer. At the E.M. Forster table Nakatani sits comfortably next to all of them. I most enjoyed Blue Collar, the group with Nakatani, Steve Swell and Nate Wooley. At least 1/3rd of the excitement for me was in Nakatani's playing.

Anyhow, thinking of Nakatani got me to thinking of drumming in general. For better or worse, I can't think about drumming for very long without thinking of The Black Page.

The Black Page. All those notes, all those rhythms. Scary!

A decade or so later, it is not so scary. 11 year olds, 16 year olds, groups of teens...

Can music be thought of as currency? Is that a lot of crap? Supposing yes, music can be thought of as currency and yes, that is a lot of crap; what has the emergence of teen and pre-teen realizations done to the value of The Black Page-as-currency?

What happens to a piece of music when it become repertoire? Ok, ok, what happens to the "collective" perception of a piece of music when it is performed as repertoire, and particularly as children's repertoire?

Q: And Children? A: And Children

Is there a Black Page ring tone yet?

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