Father Knows Best

Father's Day, and what better way to celebrate on Now's the Time than to have my very own father (second from left) join me in the studio to play some favourites?

In truth, dad dug deep and donated $100 to the show during last fall's funding drive, and according to an IMC tradition, that automatically entitles him to co-host an episode of NTT. "Name your date," I told him, but we weren't able to co-ordinate our schedules until this past Thursday, June 12. It just so happened, of course, that that was the show closest to Father's Day. Fortuitous, no?

So JGF programed the music and sat in the studio with me to rap about jazz, his memories and experiences and, as it happened, the manner in which generations can pass music back and forth to one another. See, Dad fell into jazz in college (military college, no less), and he favoured the cool school and the Third Streamers. Somewhere along the way, he sort of left it behind. Cut to thirty or so years later, when his youngest son (that'd be me) began to develop an interest in jazz, beginning with Chet Baker and moving on quickly to Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and so on (and so on and so on). Well, in doing so, I unwittingly pulled dad back into that world, and for that he has proven grateful. So having him sit in with me behind the microphone was a wonderful way to tie all that together.

We played some George Shearing (that's him in the Ray-Bans), some Oscar Peterson, a little Dave Brubeck. We went to New Orleans, we swung with Duke. And we iced the proceedings with some Miles, by way of Spain.

Suffice to say we both had a great time, and the proof is in the digital recording:

Now's the Time - June 12, 2008: Guest host Gordon Forbes

(Playlist available here)

Happy Father's Day.

PS - I'll be back on the airwaves in July with a show I've chosen to call Free Radicals. It'll be a skronky affair, with plenty of noise for noise's sake. Cover your ears.