Visits from Webster Young

There are many ways in which I took for granted the presence of jazz in my life as I was growing up. Like when Webster Young used to visit my family, and I had no idea that this man had played with John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Jackie McLean, and Bud Powell, and that he was friends with Miles Davis.

Webster likely met and became friends with my step-father at the Howard Theater, where Webster first met and got tips from Louis Armstrong, and where he later played, and where my step-father worked.

When I recently saw some of the old family photos from Webster's visits, I was blown away by how blessed I've been, to have the opportunity to know him and the many other great artists I met in my youth.

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