Sondra, Melvin, David, Marc, Shannon, Elliott, Tom, Harry, Monroe and Al
At a recent Media Bistro mixer, I met my now friend, writer, producer and TV show host Shannon, who told me about an article she had written on the Atlanta Jazz Listeners Club. It’s a group of men and women of different ages and diverse backgrounds who share a common pleasure that brings them together once a month. They all dig jazz.
Shannon worked at Colony Square and would occasionally see Monroe in the parking garage – a distinguished looking gentleman – who always had jazz playing in the background. She eventually asked about his music and he gave her the story of a sound while dropping names like Miles, Monk, Mingus and Marsalis. None of the names meant much to Shannon but she liked the tunes. During one of their chance meetings Monroe told her about the AJLC and invited her to one of their monthly meetings. Shannon accepted, attended, loved it and hence the article.
Soon after, I read her article and immediately began a groveling and almost embarrassing campaign to wrangle an invite to the next meeting. The AJLC gave her the thumbs-up to bring a stranger to their June meeting at Marc’s home and just like that, I was in like Flint.
Forget the fact I arrived at the meeting about 20 minutes before Shannon – which was somewhat awkward – the AJLC, which is made up of a couple of scientists, a dentist, a few retired executives, a professor, a musician and a guy who sings in a jazz choir and claims he lives in the “hood,” all welcomed me with open arms. They had the tunes, the vibe, the bar, the coolness and the smiles turned on and I was immediately glad to be there.
I quickly learned it’s not about who you are, what you have or where you’ve been. It’s all about the music. They sat, listened, nodded, smiled, chatted (if you wanted to) and enjoyed being there.
Later in the evening David leaned over and said, “I hope you didn’t eat much before you came.” I knew what he meant because the delightful aromas coming from the kitchen had been in the air since I arrived. My smile got even brighter. Lets just say Marc’s wife Johnetta knows her way around a kitchen. The salmon, the Brown Stew Chicken, the veggies, the sauces and peach cobbler sealed it for me. My next question was… how do I become a member?
