Cool Jazz, 1960's music and a boy named Skip

While driving home from Winston-Salem recently, I turned on the radio and found "Jazz out of the Mainstream" on NPR. There is something about driving alone at night with cool jazz music drifting through the car that is both soothing and energizing. A contemporary Ramsey Lewis-ish trio played the theme from Casino Royale (remember Sean Connery as James Bond?) The music brought back memories of other Burt Bacharach movie theme songs from the 1960s including "What's New Pussycat" and "Raindrops Keep falling on my Head" from Butch Cassidy And The Sundance Kid,"Alfie" and so many more.

The 1960 era songs and jazz playing on the radio took me back to 1963 when I dated Skip. Skip was a jazz pianist and a sweet young man. He was in a small band consisting of a piano, guitar and bass fiddle. I remember the group jamming in Skip's basement and going to a couple of small clubs to watch him perform.

One distinct memory was of a dress I wore to one of those night clubs. It was a summer dress, sleeveless with a scoop neck and big circular skirt, a wide black patent leather belt and big black buttons. The cool thing about that dress is that is was reversible. On one side was a white background with big black flowers while on the other side were big white flowers on a black background. Turned inside out, I had a different outfit! In 1963 we wore nylon stockings held up with a garter belt and low heeled pumps no higher than 2 inches. The shoes and matching (of course) clutch bag were black patent leather to match the belt. I loved that dress.

It was a good thing I didn't love Skip, although I did like him very much, because he never smiled at me the way he smiled when he played the piano. When Skip played, he seemed a million miles away from me and I realized, even at the young age of seventeen, that his first love was his music. Thankfully we were not in a serious relationship and it wasn't a big heartbreak when we broke up.

Music triggers memories for me because I associate songs with people and events from my past. Here are a few of those memories:

1) Lip syncing "The Preacher and the Bear" by Phil Harris with my siblings and
cousins in the basement of our house and knowing all of the words to
every song on the album.

2) My dad teaching me to dance the swing to big band music in my best friend's rec
room.

3) Tap dancing "out" to the song "Singing the Blues." My costume was: gray and white
burmuda shorts, white turtle neck shirt, white knee socks and tap shoes.

4) In 1961, playing my new 45 record "Runaway" by Del Shannon so many times that my mother took it away from me saying that she had finally lost her mind after hearing
Runaway over 1000 times. That was an exaggeration, I think.

5) Watching Elvis Presley on Ed Sullivan in 1956. There were a dozen kids crowded
around the T.V. in our living room.

6) "Breaking Up is Hard to Do" sung by Paul Anka after breaking up with Chuck D.
the summer before I started high school. I was in my "Drama Queen" mode before
the term was coined.

7) The British Invasion, especially the Beetles in 1964 when I was a senior in high school. I owned every album they made and was so in love with Paul! Wasn't every girl?

8) Dancing every single weekend my junior and senior year in high school. There were
dozens of dance clubs in Wichita and great rock and roll bands such as The Surfs
who played at the Seneca Lounge. My friends and I were groupies and knew all the
band members.

9) Dancing at the Huddle in Pittsburg, Kansas where I went to college. We danced the
Phi Sig stomp in 1966 and drank 3.2 beer.

And then years later(1982)when I was a mother, waiting for my sons Corey and Travis to come home from school so we could watch Micheal Jackson's "Thriller." We had been looking forward to seeing the music video for weeks.

I have fallen in love to music and have had my heart broken to songs that I still cannot bear to play. I have been able to appreciate bluegrass music even though I was never exposed to it until recently. My love of early rock and roll has only increased with age and I can still dance a mean West coast swing. I have tried my hand (or feet) at the "Shag" which is a popular East coast beach music dance. I love some classical and occasionally listen to country (even though my father would not allow what he called "hillbilly" music in the house.)

The cool jazz floating though my car the other night was a sweet break from my hectic life; a step back in the past and delicious memories of the 1960s, a boy named Skip and my youth.