“Bob S.,” as he is affectionately known, was an eighth grader at Forest View when the upper class jazz band made the ’75 album. “We all hungered to be in that band,” he wrote to me. Forest View introduced its students to the music of many well known jazz composers, including Dad’s charts. Bob made a career in music education, touching the lives of countless students on Chicago’s North Side. He played sax in a variety of jazz bands and continues blowing his horn to this day. We recently exchanged emails. Bob wrote in response to my questions:

           What I was trying to say about the rock influence was that many composers, including your dad, tried to reflect some of the music culture of the time. Many contemporary composers will write for a traditional jazz sound like swing or Mambo while also trying to incorporate elements of the music of the time. Some of the music that has those characteristics will sound “dated”. Which is not a bad thing since we now have an aural representation of that era.

            The Buckinghams used backwards tracking because the popular bands of the time like the Beatles and Beach boys were doing it. It was a great “hook” for record sales. There is a great arrangement of Carole King’s Corazon performed by Woody Herman. It’s a really fun tune but when you listen to it, there are elements of 70s rock harmonizations that an acute listener will pick up.

             January Jubilee is an awesome song. It too has ‘flavors’ of the 70s within it. Still fun to play. There are a great number of jazz composers that are not played that much anymore like Dominick Spera. He was definitely a colleague of your dad’s. In my opinion, music marketing has had a definite influence on composers of the past. There is a constant push for new material so many of the older tunes become out of print and unattainable.

            In the current state of music education, colleges and high schools will be looking for cool hip sound for their bands since those young people have their own music they listen to. In he ’70s your dad’s stuff had some cutting edge stuff that was fun to play. There is SO much available it’s hard to get a feel of what has come before. I have heard of different tribute concerts highlighting composers like Nestico, Jeff Tyzik, and Mike Sweeney. I am glad your Dad’s music is still around and not lost to the ages. I hope some of my observations/opinions have provided something for you.