Shadow Puppet Storyteller

Play Me Some Tabla, Darling

Soundtrack of my Life

One opportunity I received when my father died last year was to embark on an appreciation of his music collection. I was aware of his life-long love of Classical music. And the settings of his radio were familiar to me: KPFK, KPCC, even my alma mater's station, KCSN and sister campus, Cal State Long Beach's KKJZ. But only my kids had been the frequent riders in his car, so I knew little of the CDs stored above the the sun visor. He had a big collection of Miles Davis, and he also favored female performers skilled with cello and other string instruments. I'm not ready to pick a Mile Davis piece; I still consider myself such a novice. However, John Coltrane has an arrangement of My Favorite Things, and the Sachal Jazz Ensemble & Wynton Marsalis performing it is utilizing a mixture of Eastern instruments -- You'll see and hear flute, tabla and sitar, as an example.

I do like tabla, a type of drum, and sitar, the stringed instrument you might also recognize from some of the experimental time for the Beatles. As other commentators on the You Tube link note, the flute playing is masterful. For myself I really like where the keyboarding goes in terms of Jazz.