Join us in this episode for a radiant musical memoir by pianist Dick Coolen.
Long before the cityโs reputation as an international tech hub, Seattle achieved a globally relevant jazz culture. Here, bands that gathered in the basements of churches, schools and modest homesย producedย the likes of Ray Charles, Ernestine Anderson and Quincy Jones. Reared in this milieu, our guestโs stories celebrate a free-range childhood in Seattleโs redlined Central District as well asย the big band, bebop, and early rock and roll rhythms that filled its avenues.
Dick recounts jamming at Joe Brazilโs Black Academy of Music; of blowing baritone sax at Birdland on Madison. He savors memories of touring with Ike Cole and of collaborating with Dizzy Gillespie; of backing underground drag shows with showtunes; and of visits to a well-regarded violin maker at the Fischer Studioย Building. Over the course of his jazz journey which eventually brought him to Port Orchard, Dick footed the family bills by working no fewer than 44 non-musical occupationsโfrom paperboy to firefighter to brick mason.
Dick Coolenโs humility and commitmentโqualities he attributes to his working class and Roman Catholic upbringingโoffer lessons from an inspired life grounded in community and refined through the lifegiving power of music.
"And thatโs what life isโฆ.They throw you (โช short musical phrase โช). And you say, โWhat can I do with that?โ And you can make it (โช extended musical phrase โช)โฆ.And it comes out right." ~Dick Coolen
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Jamie Winshall and to the continued success of his son Daniel.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ท๐ช๐ฆ๐ธ๐ด ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ค๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ญ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ด. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ช๐ข๐ญ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ค ๐ฆ๐น๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐น๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ช๐ต๐บ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐น๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฃ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ. ๐๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ฅ๐ท๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ.
