Bad Times At Jazz Times

I have learned to allow and understand that all good things birthed in time and space, come to an end. But as a loyal reader of Ira Sabin's creation since the "tabloid" days I will definately miss this important "hang" every month!

One evening in the early to mid 70's after I had finished teaching my jazz piano classes at the New School for Social Research, I bought the "tabloid" at the 6th avenue and 4th street subway newspaper stand, hopped on the "F" train and headed to my Park Slope apartment in Brooklyn. Browsing through the paper on the train I came across a huge photo of myself smiling like an all-American football star and a full "tabloid" page and 1/2 feature on my work. I read it 4 times and nearly missed my stop! This article was a complete surprise to me. It meant that Ira was the kind of jazz reporter/journalist who kept abreast of the up-and- coming cats and made it a point to write about who he thought deserved to be exposed to his readers. And he never alerted me to look out for the feature.

No"advertorialisms" in those days Doug. When Jazz Times moved operations to Maryland, I used to phone Ira just to chat for a few minutes. He never sounded rushed or too busy. I still miss him and will certainly miss the JT news and main features unless we can save it.

Let's do a concert to raise funds to keep it afloat at least another year. Wadda 'ya say? For Ira's sake.

(Mr. Reilly's web site is: http://www.jackreillyjazz.com -- DR)