I’m a Trane man. My brother Kenneth plays trumpet–has done so professionally: marching bands in New Orleans streets and so forth. One guess who his main man is. But it wasn’t always so.

Yes, Kenneth dug music almost from when he was born. We both laugh about the time he got back at me during one of our pre-teen scuffles. I had bought Miles Sketches of Spain. Our minor altercation ended when he scrapped a fork across the soft grooves of my record, and simply said: “nah”. That was the end of the fight. I was totally deflated.

I mean I got over it. Eventually. But back then on that particular occasion, I was crushed. I could listen to music but he could make music. In later years, I played drums while I was in the army, but I couldn’t read music. My artistic arrow was aimed in another direction. I learned to write in the literary sense. To write extremely well. Eventually I could write insightfully about music.

One of the people I wrote about was Miles. I even met him once when I was the executive director of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Foundation.

Today, both Kenneth and I agree, there is something special about Miles. For those who have not yet got to Miles (yes, every year somebody comes of age who has not yet gotten next to Miles) here is an article (Miles Davis: where to start in his back catalogue) that offers a starting point. Begin with Kind of Blue, everybody digs that particular album, even if they are not into other Miles recordings. Even a Trane freak like me, and besides Coltrane is killing on Kind of Blue. That way you get two for one.