Jazz
Kansas City seduced my virgin ears with the sound of jazz. I was not aware yet how gigantic the music world of Kansas City was right outside of church walls. I was not surprised when soon I naturally felt the urge to sing jazz. Kansas City intoxicated my soul with fantastic chords and sultry voices. But the groove was not coming to me, until my jazz professor, Rich Hill, jumped out of his chair one day, throwing his arms up into the air and yelling, “It will never w-o-o-o-rk!!!” Of course, it wouldn’t work - he removed the sheet music from under my nose. Classicaly trained, how do I know what to play without it? Rich would sigh and go back to the board with a piece of chalk to teach me a circle of fifth or go back to the piano to encourage me to play with him. That was the scariest part to jump into the unfamiliar tune and be expected to come up with chord inversions without thinking. I couldn’t get it, until I compared Jazz to a j