I became addicted to music purely by the grace of a single homeless man at a flea market.

    

  A few years back, in the summer of 2008, I went to the flea market with my mom. We were helping her friend move into one of the shops there. It was a hot, long day and I decided to go for a walk. About halfway through my walk I encountered an elderly man sitting on top of a hot pink hatchback car, he was playing some jazz on his saxophone. Naturally, I complimented his skill and asked what he was playing (I’ve previously been encased in a world where the only music was Led Zeppelin and The Who) He replied, “It’s just a bit of jazz son, haven’t you ever heard of jazz?” 

     I thought to myself “Jazz, what other worldly music is that?” I liked it though. In the back of his car, he had a small drum, he handed it to me and said “Can you do anything on this drum?” I said “sure” I pounded out a few beats as best as a nine year old can, and he started playing his saxophone to the beat I was playing, and in my perspective, it was magnificent. Just the sound and feeling of playing music and it actually sounding good was  like a natural high of its own, so in a way… Jazz was my gateway drug, if you think of that way, this old homeless man gave me drugs. We finished the song, and he asked “how’d you like it?” I said “that was great!” 

     During my three hour meet with him, he told many stories of when he was in jazz bands “back in the day” and how he got interested in jazz. Hours passed, I heard my mom calling in the distance, I said, “I better go.” He handed me a cd case and said “Listen to these, they were mine, I can’t use them.” I asked why he couldn’t use them anymore, He said his car stereo was busted and he was homeless and had no cd player. I thanked him for his time and for the cd’s, he thanked me for listening to him and restoring his faith in younger generations. 

     As I walked away he started playing his saxophone again, and that was the last I ever saw of him. Inside the cd case were CD’s of Clifford Brown, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, and Artie Shaw. Because of this encounter, I joined the school band as soon as I could. I became aware of even more varieties of music including blues and swing and have a cool story to tell. 

      To this day, jazz makes up a lot of my life. Whether it being playing trumpet in my school's jazz band or listening to the majority of my iTunes playlist, and it’s one of those things that I will pass on to my friends and my family so they can enjoy it as I do.