Music and world events

I am writing this barely one month after the momentous and tragic events of 9/11/01, and all that has transpired since. I, like the rest of the world, am grappling with the new reality, and am searching for direction and motivation. I find strength in music.

Two weeks after the attacks on the World Trade Center I went to New York City to play with Rob McConnell's Tentet. Even though I grew up just across the river, New York remains an exotic locale. For a jazz musician, arriving in New York is like a child entering Disney World; it takes your breath away. New York is the ultimate city, the centre of the jazz universe. The legacy of all the great New York jazz musicians, past and …