Until then, be safe.
An ancient trumpet from 2,000 B.C.
Jazz Notes with Judy Adams/ Jazz Trumpets Lead the Way
The trumpet is one of the original instruments in Jazz. As the loudest and highest pitched member of the brass family, it often takes the lead voice in an ensemble. It dates back to around 2000 B.C. and evidence of early trumpet type instruments has been been found on virtually every continent.
Trumpeter, Don Cherry was a unique artist who blended centuries-old folk music with modern improvisational Jazz.
The trumpet has played a prominent role in Jazz throughout its history. It’s bright, exuberant sound has made it one of the most well loved instruments used in Jazz since the beginning of the art form when most instruments were portable as they were used in gatherings such as parades and other processions.
Trumpeters paved the way for Jazz styles such as Swing and BeBop. Louis Armstrong was one of most significant trumpeters in Jazz along with Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie.
Photo of Louis Armstrong : Pinterest.com
From the late 1890’s to the mid-1920’s the trumpet led the band lineup which also included cornet, clarinet, trombone, banjo, bass, and tuba and only occasionally the saxophone which rose to prominence after the advent of the big band an swing era.
Some of the music’s most important artists have been trumpeters including early Jazz pioneers King Oliver, and Louis Armstrong. The multi-faceted trumpeter/composer Miles Davis had a major influence on Jazz for five decades which included the founding of Be Bop in the 1940’s along with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie who helped create Latin Jazz. For more than 30 years, award winning Wynton Marsalis has been one of today’s top Jazz performers and has devoted his career to promoting the music to both Classical and Jazz audiences worldwide.
Other significant Jazz trumpeters who made their mark over the years include Clifford Brown, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Bix Biederbecke, Chet Baker, Maynard Ferguson, Quincy Jones, Hugh Masekela, Eddie Henderson, as well as Detroiters Donald Byrd, Lonnie Hillyer, John Douglass, Rayse Biggs and Howard McGhee and Pontiac’s Thad Jones to name a few.
There is also a treasure trove of Jazz trumpeters performing and recording in the world today. The partial list includes such notables as Terence Blanchard, Nicholas Payton, Roy Hargrove, Chris Botti, Tom Harrell, Dave Douglas, and Arturo Sandoval. Most of Detroit’s current Jazz trumpet stars have all played The Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe with the world renowned, late great Marcus Belgrave heading the list that also includes, Rayse Biggs, late great Johnny Trudel, Sean Jones, and Dwight Adams.
Our goal with Jazz Notes’ is to discuss the many facets of the music to provide some context to further enhance the listening experience. The more we are conscious of, the more we can appreciate. It’s like a great meal!
Most often we think of art as something created by a lone individual working far away from the social whirl. Painters, sculptors, poets and novelists almost always work alone. Their art is very personal. Artists reach inside themselves to find the stories they want to tell. Sometimes when they are still enough they can bring back some good memories to use. There is an abundance of stillness in most of our lives right now. So why is it so hard to do creative work?
Limited by the stay at home imperative, we sure have plenty of time to stop and observe the world around us, as small as it is. We have only our family around us, much like when we were children. It should be enough. It isn’t, so what’s missing?
Newborns first respond to light and to sounds and it seems to make them smile. Soon they hear the playful voices of their brothers and sisters and waddle into the fray. When rejected they will hear some calming words, while being rocked in their grandparents’ arms. They will leave their home where the rhythms of life will continue to surround them from the honking of horns to the rustle of leaves. We all continue to be surrounded by music and images the rest of our lives. First from our parents’ radios and then ours. As we get out and gain new experiences we begin to listen differently. We later learn to filter information. There will be some other people’s sounds or visuals that bring back our personal memories. Sometimes this leads to collaborative art. Eventually we find ourselves playing with friends. We form new families.
My favorite definition of the word family goes like this “A group of people, usually of the same blood (but they do not have to be), who genuinely love, trust, care about, and look out for each other”. They can be easily spotted by everyone’s quick-to-smile demeanor when in each other’s company.
I think that this is what I miss most at this moment, the friends that I took for granted, and are no longer part of my life. I also miss having adventures with my family and friends. The sameness of the days can numb the creative process.
Our immediate family is pretty spread out, so social distancing is nothing new. In some ways we are even closer now than before the pandemic. Caring about family gets ramped up in scary times and staying in touch in the digital age is amazingly easy. Still something is missing.
I am hoping that when we find a way out of this period of separation all our friendships will have survived. I have been so lucky to have been included in extended families in the workplace, in sports, in the neighborhood, In New Orleans, in France, in the Canadian wilderness, in the company of artists and especially at the Dirty Dog Jazz Café. These have been friendships that I have always considered to be indestructible. Maybe we will plan to get together next month or next year, but we will at some point get to exchange hugs and stories again. At this moment someone of my age can’t plan on anything.
Many times I have watched customers come up to Gretchen Valade and thank her for having given them such a great experience. The musicians playing the Dog certainly recognize and acknowledge the treasure we have in Gretchen and her passion for Detroit and its music. Gretchen has created a warm place to hear great jazz and be served with grace. She has honored the artists with four day gigs and the respect they deserve. The joy on the patrons’ faces is a reflection of her generous heart. I have been taking photos at the Dirty Dog for the last 12 years. I have been writing a weekly blog for the club for the last 5 years. I have had the same good friends there for the whole time.
In 2008 the world was in the grip of a serious recession. There were foreclosures and bankruptcies including Detroit’s auto industry. We all felt the downward pull. I went to a place that has always been therapeutic. I went to a local jazz club. It was a new, somewhat upscale place, called the Dirty Dog Jazz Café. I sat at the bar and at some point started talking to Carl, the club’s bartender and therapist.
We talked about art and jazz. I asked if it would be OK to photograph the artists for reference for future painting. He pointed to a bar stool and told me to sit there during the first set on a Wednesday night. I did as I was instructed. Before the band started up Carl introduced me to a handsome lady sitting next to me. That was how I met Gretchen Valade the owner and proprietress of the Dirty Dog, a genuinely classy person, the guardian angel to many and the savior of Detroit’s jazz at its darkest hour. It turns out I can be added to the list of those who continue to benefit from Gretchen’s big heart.
My son had a drum set in our basement. That meant that we had the band in our basement. For a while, a teenaged Rodney Whitaker was contributing to the sounds coming up from the basement to the parents upstairs. This was my introduction to Rodney. The band sometimes got gigs on Mack Ave where Marcus Belgrave would occasionally come and offer his support. Marcus recalled to me that he stood up and hushed the crowd so that he could better hear the band. Growing up in Detroit playing jazz is like that. Marcus and others would take the time to give a gentle but firm push to those young players who were willing to listen and work. Rodney was a world class learner and listener. Rodney has never stopped learning or teaching. Rodney Whitaker today is a robust giant in jazz and in life. He is respected for the depth of his understanding of the music and its roots. He is the sum of all those who guided him and those whose lives he has enriched.
Rodney currently is the Director of Jazz Studies at Michigan State University where he is also a professor of Jazz Bass.
On January 18-19, 2020 the Michigan State University’s Jazz Orchestra I and Jazz Octet I ensembles traveled to New York City where they were a top finisher in the Jazz at Lincoln Center inaugural Jack Rudin Jazz Championship,. The two-day invitational featured ensembles from 10 of the most well-regarded university jazz programs in the country, and MSU finished third in the rankings, Just to be asked to participate was an honor.
Director of Jazz Studies Rodney Whitaker led the band comprised of 23 accomplished, aspiring jazz musicians from MSU’s nationally-recognized program.
Willie is officially the dining room manager/programming director. Unofficially he is the Director of Food,Spirits and all that Jazz. Because Willie Jones is one of those people who get things done by nudging everything and everyone around him in the right direction. Anyone lucky enough to spend time with Willie knows that there will be little small talk and plenty of optimism. Through the force of his calmness things will get better and problems will get resolved. Here is Willie’s message this month.
I featured Will Austin on the cover of the book dedicated to Gretchen Valade, DETROIT JAZZ
This week I received a call from Marion Hayden informing me that Will Austin had passed away. Will was a gentle man and an important link in Detroit’s chain of great bass players. I find myself using the phrase passed away as it seems more pleasant/gradual than he died. Will was a teacher and friend to many with a calm that surrounded him in contrast to the force that described his playing. I hope he passed away peacefully as he deserved as much. Will was a self-taught Bassist who performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Lil’ Esther Phillips, drummer Gene Krupa, Terry Pollard, Ysef Lateef, Sammy Davis Jr., Sonny Stitt, Johnny Hartman, Diane Carroll etc, etc.He was born in Saint Louis, Missouri and moved to Detroit in the mid 50’s Will worked in Automotive Sales by day and jammed at jazz and blues clubs by night; along with raising a family. I noticed that his son (also a bassist) felt it would be fitting for donations would go to two things that Will loved, children and jazz.
A true Detroit story.
We are all doing our best to avoid helping the virus to beat us. It is hard to see any results from our efforts We will never know what good our sacrifices will have brought. Springtime shows us that things have a way to rise up out of adversity. Certainly this is true in Michigan when spring suddenly wipes out all the gray that surrounds us and lifts our spirits. I think we have to concentrate on things that have a future and seem to know it like flowers and children.
Springtime is like childhood, It takes an empty winter canvas and adds color bit by bit until we are ready for summer. It is a time of discovery and wonder. Everything around us can seem fresh and new, but seems to pass too quickly. We are reluctant to see the gently refreshing spring showers end and a little fearful of the summer storms that will follow, but we can wallow in the moment.
Springtime is the ultimate elixir for our creative souls. Everything gets a fresh start. We have had a long winter to mull things over, and now the longer days will help us get things done. It is also that moment when we have only balmy weather in front of us. Spring is like a jazz set about to take off and soar. It is a chance to be a child again, if only we can remember how that felt. This is probably why we should check up on what our children and jazz artists have to say, and savor the season
Not all children get a chance to have a carefree childhood. Unfortunately some children are asked to grow up too fast, and some never get a chance to be a child. We need someone to be there to allow a child to explore the world around them. When things go as they are supposed to childhood should be cherished, remembered and when possible replicated.
.A lot of the gifts of childhood are neglected and lost as we grow up. It is never too late to include some springtime, even in your autumn years.
Children seldom carry yesterday’s baggage into a new day. When you are young, every day feels like an eternity and a new day means new opportunities to make new friends, explore new adventures, learn new things.
Children don’t know enough to worry. They see possibilities not dangers. They play, sing, shout and take chances because they are not confined by fears of failure or humiliation.
Children are filled with hope and determination. They haven’t been beaten down, As adults, we sometimes fear the unknown. We stay safely ensconced in our comfort zone and rarely venture out. Adventure can exhilarate and awaken our spirit.
This can be done while confined in your home.
( Don’t take risks that could endanger others.)
Children have the wonderful ability to find joy all around them. They see silliness everywhere.
Kids keep moving when they aren’t sleeping, and they sleep well because they keep moving. I can get tired just watching kids. We all know we should join in, if only we could get up from our chairs.
Children like the company of other kids. They share a language. Kids haven’t developed filters and disappointments that get in the way of making new friends. It is our job to be their friend.
Sometimes we wallow in our perceived mediocrity. Children accomplish something every day and feel pretty good about it. Left alone they can be a hero in the space they happen to occupy.
When I walked with my wife in spring she would point out to me the different flowers growing up through the cracks in the sidewalks, My kids were closer to the cracks and would spend time with all the little things all around them. We unfortunately neglect these joyful discoveries. We need to include these tiny miracles in our days.
The creative process should remain part of all one’s life. When do we stop seeing creative activities as worthwhile? When did play and fun become a luxury? I think that adults should take more time for some finger painting. Or take a moment for deep thoughts.
No one has to tell a jazz musician any of the stuff above. Their seldom forget the fun that childhood and jazz can be.
Jazz is extremely complex, yet when people can’t figure out how jazz works they often use the word “childlike” to describe it. “Blossom Dearie had a unique childlike voice” or when Sting tried to sing jazz he was said to “have adapted to a childlike voice”. Theolonius Monk was said to use childlike pauses. This is more about editing out the unnecessary, sort of the way children do.
Children below the age of 9 or 10 don’t edit themselves the way adults do, which, as we all know, can have its pluses and minuses. It can be amazing, funny, and inspiring or it can be messy, annoying, and even dangerous. That is why parents get to join in on the fun.
We spend a lot of time making sure our kids get a chance to be kids. We should do the same for ourselves and those close to us . Jazz musicians have the secret that allows them to let the child inside take over and finish the tune. Think springtime, childlike and jazzy.
Please stay safe,
John Osler
“Howard, I think the dog wants to go out.”
I have been having a hard time seeing anything funny in the wake of personal tragedies that are occurring every moment, every day around the world. I am thinking that adversity isn’t always all that it is cracked up to be. In this period of social separation we don’t get to witness other’s despair first hand, we can only feel it. This would normally be a time to lock arms and together face whatever comes our way. For the moment arm locking isn’t possible so maybe wisecracking will have to do. We joke because if we didn’t, we’d cry.
We are alone in our own homes, powerless and isolated, A joke now and then is our most reliable shield, and our warmest comfort blanket. We as individuals can’t stop the wave of infection sweeping our country.
Laughter, however, will help us to take back control, and when we share a joke it will start to connect us with others. This is a way to to spit in the eye of the invader.
Christopher Hitchens said that humor was “part of the armor-plate” of humanity, protecting us from life’s grim reality
On a dark April morning my wife and I were glumly looking at depressing images on our screens. I looked over at my wife and she was crying. Then she was guffawing, and then she was crying, guffawing and laughing loudly. The more we watched it together, the more we laughed together the better we felt about the ordeal ahead. It felt a lot better than looking at death graphs. Here is the day changer that some kind soul had posted.
My husband and I were dressed and ready to go out for a lovely evening of dinner and theatre. Having been burgled in the past, we turned on a ‘night light’ and the answering machine, then put the cat in the backyard.
When our Uber arrived, we walked out our front door and our rather tubby cat scooted between our legs inside, then ran up the stairs. Because our cat likes to chase our canary we really didn’t want to leave them unchaperoned, so my husband ran inside to retrieve her and put her in the backyard again.
Because I didn’t want the Uber driver to know our house was going to be empty all evening, I explained to him that my husband would be out momentarily as he was just bidding goodnight to my mother.
A few minutes later he got into the Uber all hot and bothered, and said (to my growing horror and amusement) as we pulled away,
“Sorry it took so long but the stupid bitch was hiding under the bed and I had to poke her arse with a coat hanger to get her to come out! She tried to take off so I grabbed her by the neck and wrapped her in a blanket so she wouldn’t scratch me like she did last time. But it worked! I hauled her fat arse down the stairs and threw her into the backyard….she had better not poop in the vegetable garden again.”
.
I found it difficult to find jokes on isolation, masks, toilet paper and other topical subjects that made me laugh.
For now, there are plenty of self deprecating jokes and a plethora of musician slams.
When I look back on this time I will probably see the humor.
Bill Mauldin saved my childhood. World War II was a grim time to be young boy, but here was Bill Mauldin on the front lines with his sketchpad lightening our spirits just a little.
Bill Mauldin’s everyman heroes were a couple of long-suffering, wisecracking infantrymen named Willie and Joe. As they appeared in the Army’s Stars and Stripes magazine Willie and Joe were reliable men of few words who shouldered the craziness of war with dignity, and Bill Mauldin was praised for his honest images of what most soldiers felt during war-time. General George S. Patton, Jr. complained about the scruffiness of the characters and blamed Mauldin for disrespecting the army and “trying to incite a mutiny”. But Dwight Eisenhower, Supreme Commander European Theater, told Patton to leave Mauldin alone, because he felt that Mauldin’s cartoons gave the soldiers an outlet for their frustrations. The War Department supported their syndication.[5] The cartoons helped publicize the ground forces and showed the grim side of war, demonstrating that victory would require repeated sacrifices.
Bill Mauldin showed a young boy that when every vestige of civility and society has been stripped away in wartime, Willie and Joe remained good and decent men.
Louis Armstrong had a public persona that matched his hit version of the song What A Wonderful Life. This was just how he wanted to be seen, and was an in your face response to the hardships he faced throughout his life. It took some effort, but he carried it off. He was a man entirely content to live in his own skin. Louis didn’t tell jokes. He just gave us instructions on how to handle adversity.
I can imagine Louis and the Coronavirus facing off, with the virus creeping away a victim of a couple of blasts from Louis’ horn followed by that unique smile of his.
Dizzy Gillespie said of Louis, “I began to recognize what I had considered Pops’ grinning in the face of racism as his absolute refusal to let anything, even anger about racism, steal the joy from his life.” Call it the pursuit of happiness: despite the tough world he had grown up in and the far from perfect one in which he made his career, Louis Armstrong really did believe that “It’s a Wonderful World.”
Saxophonist Charlie Holmes summed up his joyous exuberance
“Other trumpet players would be hitting high notes, but they sound like a flute up there or something. But Louis wasn’t playing them like that. Louis was hittin’ them notes right on the head, and expanding. They would be notes. He was hittin’ notes. He wasn’t squeakin’. They wasn’t no squeaks. They were notes. Big, broad notes. . . . The higher he went, the broader his tone got—and it was beautiful!
How many bassists does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None, the pianist can do it with his left hand.
On a windy night in a bad neighborhood, a tall man in a trench coat walks into a crowded bar with a trombone case. As he drops the case on the ground, the entire bar falls silent and stares at him, frightened. He bends down to open the case, and takes out an AK-47. The entire bar sighs in relief and goes back to their drinks.
How Many Saxophonists does it take to change a lightbulb? One to screw it in. And four other ones to stand there and talk about how Coltrane could have done it better.
What do you call a hundred smooth jazz sax players at the bottom of the sea? A good start
We are all in the hands of our scientists. They will let us know when we can return to a normal life or at least near normal. Folks like myself have a special interest in them getting it right. They only have one job, get to know this virus so that they can defeat it. This article is from the Fred Hutch News Service.
A short primer on coronavirus biology
A shopper wearing PPE makes her way through the ShopRite supermarket on April 03, 2020 in Plainview, New York. Currently, over 92,000 people in New York state have tested positive for COVID-19Photo by Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
A coronavirus is swallowing the world’s attention and pushing scientists to study the virus and gain new insights at a dizzying pace, making it difficult for those without expert knowledge to keep up. Dr. Michael Emerman, a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center virologist, has studied the interaction between the immune system, HIV and related viruses for 30 years. He teaches a 10-week course on viruses to Fred Hutch and University of Washington graduate students, including a lecture on viral pandemics. This year he repeated a version of this lecture virtually, drawing on data from the 2003 SARS outbreak and the 2009 swine flu to give context to the pandemic being caused by this novel coronavirus.
We adapted some of this information to create a short primer on coronavirus biology and the scenarios that may play out in the coming months.
First, a point of clarification about COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2.
“The virologist in me has to point out: they’re not the same thing,” Emerman said.
Just as we distinguish between the virus HIV and AIDS, the disease it causes, we distinguish between SARS-CoV-2, the virus, and COVID-19, the disease it causes.
Though new and potentially deadly, SARS-CoV-2 is not the first coronavirus we humans have encountered. In addition to the coronavirus that caused the sudden and short-lived outbreak of SARS in 2003, four coronaviruses currently circulate among humans. Three of them cause about 15% to 20% of colds, while the fourth coronavirus is responsible for about 2% to 5% of cases of croup.
We typically encounter these coronaviruses as children.
“In general, it seems to be a biological property of coronaviruses that they are much less severe in young children than they are in adults,” Emerman said.
Getting the disease as a child appears to offer some protection against reinfection later in life; adults encountering these coronaviruses for first time generally have more severe disease than those who were first infected as children, Emerman said. It is believed that immunity to a coronavirus-caused cold typically lasts about three to five years and that subsequent reinfections are less severe.
Where a virus replicates can dictate the infection’s symptoms. The cold-causing coronaviruses replicate in the cells lining the upper respiratory tract and trigger symptoms like sneezing and a runny nose. In contrast, SARS-CoV-2 primarily infects cells — and does most of its replicating — deep within the lungs. Current studies show that it also replicates in the nasal passages and upper airway, which may help it transmit more easily than other lower respiratory tract infections.
“Coughing and droplets from the mouth are the major way it is spreading,” Emerman said. The fact that SARS-CoV-2 primarily targets the lower respiratory tract also contributes to the worrisome lung damage it can cause, he said. “The upper respiratory tract is less susceptible to damage, so infections to the upper respiratory tract are going to be less deadly.”
So why are we testing for the novel coronavirus by running swabs in people’s noses and the back of their throats? While there are hints that SARS-CoV-2 may replicate in both the lower respiratory tract and nasal passages, the swabs are also detecting virus that has been coughed up from lower down, Emerman said.
“That’s part of why you can have false negatives,” he said. Someone infected with SARS-CoV-2 deep in their lungs may not have coughed up enough virus to be detected via swab. If they do test later, their results can flip to positive. But for large-scale screening, nose and throat swabs are still the best strategy, Emerman said; sampling deep in the lungs is too invasive.
Much of the public health recommendations for reducing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 focus on its ability to linger to linger on surfaces in our environment. It turns out that coronavirus particles are more stable than influenza virus particles.
Learn more about the distinctive structure of SARS-CoV-2 in this companion story, What’s with the spikes?
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The flu and coronaviruses transmit to new cells by bundling their genetic material into virus particles. But the flu also packages proteins with specialized activity, called enzymes, to facilitate entry into target cells. Coronaviruses don’t need to add enzymes to their particles because they co-opt host-cell enzymes to slip inside cells. But enzymes quickly lose activity. By including them, flu viruses limit their shelf life. By leaving enzymes behind, coronaviruses extend the time that they stay infectious outside the body, Emerman explained.
The fact that some coronaviruses (not the four mild ones circulating among humans) cause gastrointestinal infections in animals like pigs also underscores their ability to remain stable in harsh environments that other viruses can’t withstand, he said.
“It’s complicated and we don’t know yet,” Emerman said.
The are many factors that could influence ebb and flow of coronavirus infections over the coming year, he said.
The most optimistic, best-case scenario — that the globe will come together to stop the pandemic before fall — will depend on how well we in the Northern Hemisphere implement physical distancing measures and how well countries in the Southern Hemisphere prepare for SARS-CoV-2 as their winter looms, Emerman said.
“If it is not controlled in the Southern Hemisphere in their winter, it may well be back [in the Northern Hemisphere] in the fall,” he said.
And Emerman doesn’t believe that summer weather will be the panacea that some are hoping for.
“[Summer is] going to make transmission less efficient, but [the coronavirus is] not going to go away,” he said.
The cold-causing coronaviruses follow a seasonal pattern much like the seasonal flu: up in the winter, down in the summer. But they never go away completely. And a pandemic doesn’t necessarily follow seasonal patterns: In contrast to seasonal flu, the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic peaked in May and June before dropping in August. And like the 1918 flu pandemic, it returned for a second wave in the fall.
This is another potential outcome: SARS-CoV-2 cases may decline in the summer months, followed by a resurgence as the weather cools and the air grows drier, Emerman said.
As Hutch researchers and others have shown, SARS-CoV-2 is circulating among us — including many people who are unaware they are infected. If there’s a second wave in the fall, its size will be influenced by how many people were exposed during the first wave, as well as whether drugs to treat COVID-19 are approved by autumn, Emerman said.
If more people have developed immunity to SARS-CoV-2, they’ll act as transmission dead ends for the virus, blocking it from spreading easily through the population. A protective vaccine, once it’s developed (though likely not by fall), will have the same transmission-blocking effect, minus the COVID-19 risk.
Emerman also described a third possible scenario: we never rid the world of SARS-CoV-2 and, after a year or two as a pandemic, it joins its four coronavirus brethren and the seasonal flu to become a virus that waxes and wanes over the year.
In this scenario, a vaccine “may be something that is part of a routine vaccination that we’re getting maybe once, maybe once plus boosters,” Emerman said.
Alternatively, it may be that SARS-CoV-2 “becomes like the other seasonal coronaviruses that cause common colds,” he said: a mild infection of childhood that protects against severe disease in adulthood.
Coronaviruses don’t mutate as quickly as, say, influenza, which is good news for scientists rushing to develop a vaccine. This has made scientists fairly optimistic about creating a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2, but it’s not a slam dunk, Emerman cautioned.
We already know that adults can get re-infected with cold-causing coronaviruses every three to five years. But why reinfection occurs varies among the viruses.
Though all coronaviruses mutate more slowly than the flu, one of them mutates just enough that after several years, it’s unrecognizable to our immune systems and escapes the immunity we’ve built up.
“For the other one, that does not appear to be the case; it just appears that the immune response is not strong enough to give lifelong immunity,” Emerman said.
Whether SARS-CoV-2 falls into either camp is unknown. If it does, that would influence vaccine strategy. For a slowly escaping virus, it may be that a vaccine will need to be tweaked every so often. If our immunity to SARS-CoV-2 isn’t long-lasting, we may perhaps need booster shots, as we do with the combination vaccine for tetanus, whooping cough and diphtheria.
Sabrina Richards, a staff writer at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has written about scientific research and the environment for The Scientist and OnEarth Magazine. She has a Ph.D. in immunology from the University of Washington, an M.A. in journalism and an advanced certificate from the Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University. Reach her at srichar2@fredhutch.org.
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Jazz’s Future / Discovering New Jazz/ the Future of Jazz is in our hands
The Detroit Jazz /Festival audience
After writing about new today’s artists and new Jazz releases the past several years in my blog “Jazz Notes” it made me think about all of the musicians on the forefront who are keeping the idiom fresh with new ideas.
Versatile Detroit Piano Virtuoso, Ian Finkelstein at the piano
at the Dirty Dog
As we’ve mentioned in previous blog articles, Jazz must stay current while preserving its heritage. By staying current, it ensures Jazz’s future by constantly infusing itself with the newest sounds being created by Jazz artists around the world. Since the beginning, Jazz has been able to avoid being stagnant, and instead, grow with the times by reflecting current culture.
This is primarily done by the up and coming new and emerging artists who are usually close to the newest sounds trends.
World-class Jazz Bassist/Virtuoso/ style-maker , Esperanza Spalding, who was an artist-in-resident at the Detroit Jazz Festival a few years back
Or it could happen at a well programmed Jazz club such as the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe and others in this area. It could also happen at a well programmed radio station. Detroit’s listener supported WRCJ 90.9FM just added many new shows….go to their website.
Detroit Drummer extraordinaire: Nate Winn
One of the best places to discover new sounds in Jazz is at well programmed Jazz festival such as the Detroit Jazz Festival which takes place annually on Labor Day weekend on various stages in downtown Detroit. Check out other Jazz festivals all over the world.
Unfortunately many of these festivals are not able to have live performances because of the various quarantines in place for our safety, due to the Coronavirus. Let’s hope things are lifted and in place soon.
Our world renowned festival has been around since 1980 and it continues to be a showcase for veteran players and classic styles as well as new trends and fresh talent. If you want to discover new Jazz this is the place. It’s free so you’re able to take in as much music as you like. You can stroll from stage to stage and get a good taste from a variety of styles whether you’re a seasoned fan or new to the music.
For more information on our festival, including the performance schedule, go to detroitjazzfest.org
Award-winning Style-maker pianist, Robert Glasper
This year’s “Artist in Residence” is the great vocalist, Dee Dee Bridgewater! Previous ones were also big names in Jazz and style-makers such as Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Pat Metheny, Stanley Clarke and many others over the years. I love how the Dirty Dog has an annual tradition of inviting them each to perform live in the intimate setting of the Dirty Dog Jazz Café…that’s what Jazz is all about. Hope to see you there.
Detroit Jazz Festival director, Chris Collins is also the Director/Professor of Wayne State University’s Jazz Studies program with it’s excellent faculty and alumni. His job puts him in place to identify tomorrow’s Jazz leaders and style-makers.
Yes, Detroit is definitely one of the greatest music cities in the world. No shortage of talent here!
Detroit Public Radio mainstay, Judy Adams, is a pianist, composer and musicologist who hosts a Jazz and contemporary music show on CJAM 99.1FM and guest hosts on WRCJ 90.9FM. She made her mark at WDET 101.9FM where she was program director and daily on-air music host for more than 30 years.
It has been about a month that we have been in hibernation. The virus still lurks just outside our doors. There is real tragedy playing out in our city which overshadows our minor frustrations with social distancing. There comes a time, however, when we accumulate enough small inconveniences to make us enter a dark place. We get overwhelmed by simple tasks that we seem to do every day. I am suffering from self pity which isn’t terminal, but an overload of monotony can be harmful to one’s health. Getting a new task or challenge can break through our cloud of funk.
This week I got a call from Gene Dunlap who remembered that I took some photos at the Dirty Dog Jazz Café of Gene at his drum set. Gene and his band bring a joyously enthusiastic crowd to the Dog every time they play. They play with a freedom that is uniquely Detroit. They know the crowd. The crowd knows that they will be hearing some genuine Detroit sounds.The band knows that they will be among friends and will settle comfortably into their fans’ pocket of appreciation. Their demeanor on the stand reflects their comfort with each magical moment and shows up in the viewfinder of my camera.
Gene is a young soul in a little older body that is currently at risk to the virus. Gene will ben staying out of clubs for awhile. Meanwhile he is writing music and putting the finishing touches on a new CD. He needed some photos and called me, breaking the cycle of sameness that had come over me. I put on some music and brought my computer to life. Hidden in my photo library I found the photos that Gene had asked me for. On the way to Gene’s pics I scrolled through photos taken when life was more of an adventure. This took some time off a morning. The afternoon was spent selecting fixing and cropping each photo.
The result was that I had a chance to relish each image and appreciate each musician as I spent some time with them. Not everybody can be so lucky.
We all will be finding ways to expand our experiences while keeping a distance. It requires some memory and a lot of imagination. We will all find a way to keep it together even when we are apart.
When Gene called I didn’t think much of it. I didn’t realize how therapeutic the task would be until I started looking at the images on the computer screen. A casting director couldn’t have found a more interesting group of characters for a jazz film set in Detroit. I have on my computer maybe 100,000 images of jazz artists shot from the corners and edges of the Dirty Dog Jazz Café. Some are in focus, some you can barely tell who the person is, and then there are the remarkable few that invite you into the photo to meet that person.
When I went through the photos of Gene’s band there were enough shots that made me pause, take some time with these gentlemen, and slip out of loneliness for a moment. I know a lot of people with time on their hands might consider going through old photos. The photos take you back to a time that looks pretty good to us now.
As we have mentioned in our blog many times over the years, Jazz and the blues are two of the most influential music genres the world has even known. They influenced the creation of most modern musical forms including R&B, Rock, Country, Funk, Hip Hop and more, as these genres are also born in America.
With modern technology and the media, these styles ‘went viral” with the advent of radio and records nearly a century ago.It’s sonorities and rhythmic elements have reverberated all over the world since the beginning of the 20th century.
“Classical” composers such as Rachmaninoff, Ravel, Debussy, Satie, Gershwin, were all drawn to Jazz and its influence is evident in their music. Some became huge fans of Jazz, especially after hearing it on their visits to America.More than ever, America needs to recognize and embrace Jazz as a major component of its cultural identity. Much like European countries have embraced Classical music as one of their major contributions to world culture.
While Jazz has a huge following here at home, there’s still room for more Americans to accept Jazz as part of their musical heritage. Today, Jazz has established itself as a major musical art form in Europe, Central and South America, and Asia. Countries with a fervent Jazz scene include France, Spain, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Indonesia, Japan, Italy, and of course the U.S.
There are more than three thousand Jazz clubs worldwide in more than 100 countries and 38 American states.International Jazz Day is a yearly event on April 30, organized by UNESCO to celebrate “the virtues of Jazz as an educational tool, and a force for peace, unity, dialogue and enhanced cooperation among people.”
Many musicians have said that there seems to be more support, acceptance and appreciation for Jazz outside the U.S. Major Jazz recording artists have consistently found more gigs in other countries than in America when on tour. While Jazz has a huge following here at home, there’s still room for more Americans to accept Jazz as part of their musical heritage.
Over the years, these attitudes led to many artists becoming expatriates and moving to countries where there was more support for the music. This includes well known artists such as civil rights activist, actress, singer, Josephine Baker, who became a huge star in France in the 1920’s and beyond. Also, saxophonist Dexter Gordon, who left the United States in the 1960s to live in, primarily Paris and Copenhagen. There, he played with fellow expatriates and continued to record for Blue Note. He experienced better treatment in Europe, as a Jazz player, than he had in the United States.
Nina Simone
The great Jazz singer/songwriter and pianist Nina Simone, lived in Liberia, Switzerland, England and Barbados before eventually settling down in the South of France.
This is still happening today as American artists continue to find more financial support for their music in other countries who quite often pay artists a stipend to support their efforts to maintain a higher quality of life in their communities.
Dexter Gordon spent years living and performing in Paris, France. In 1986, he was nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the French film, Round Midnight and was awarded the Order of Arts and Letters by the French Ministry of Culture. Last year was the 50th anniversary of his celebrated album “Our Man in Paris” . The album’s title refers to where the recording was made, Gordon (who had moved to Copenhagen a year earlier) teaming up with fellow expatriates Bud Powell and Kenny Clarke, both Parisian residents, and native Parisian Pierre Michelot.
This is a time when when the whole culture is asking us to slow down. This may be a good time to listen to some art. This may be a good time to search out some music that you can bring into your home, books on line and some art that you can hang on your walls. There are artists who would appreciate your reaching out.
We are all trying to find a silver lining in this pandemic. With all the pain around us it isn’t easy, We need an alternative to the worthlessness we feel when we can’t get out and help. We need to counter the not knowing and the isolation. The absence of a clear light at the end of the tunnel can be frustrating. It is difficult enough to be isolated, but it is really hard not to know how your friends are faring. We go online to find little shards of light, something or someone who can pick up our spirits. We use Facetime, Skype and Zoom. where we get to see each other inside our homes. We also get to see what we put behind us, on the screen. It can be revealing.
It is giving us a look into the personal lives of our fellow workers sitting alone in their homes with background sounds of families crying for attention. Politicians will place themselves in their austere offices with a flag behind them, lending them some seriousness. TV personalities can be found looking up from desks in their dens looking like ordinary people. Friends will be in a place that they hastily cleaned up, sometimes leaving some evidence of disarray.
Our screens are filled with images of red and blue lit folks looking straight at us. Often they are too close to the invisible camera on their laptop or phone. We see bulging eyes, swollen noses and wrinkled chins from below. These can’t be the handsome friends we are used to seeing eye to eye.
I see very few paintings or art photography on the walls behind the guests who appear on my screens. I do see bookshelves, vases, potted plants and tables with piles of work to be done. I would kind of like to see more art, like I find at the Dirty Dog jazz Café.
I am often surprised when I go into a room and there is a piece of really good art on the wall. It may not always be my cup of tea, but I will carry forward a good feeling towards the person who thought that art was important. We all have different skill levels when we decorate a space hoping to make life more orderly and livable. When we first enter a room and glance around we get our first glimpse of someone. A room that I occupied would usually be a scene of disarray. Piles of stuff and unfinished projects would litter every corner of every room. Fortunately for me and anyone visiting our house, my wife has a better sense of presentation than I do. Any room where I am working would soon become uninhabitable if left ungoverned by my better half. I am grateful for all of the people who keep order in our world and especially those who place in front of me beautiful arrangements of beautiful things. It is often a woman with impeccable taste. When I am in the Canadian woods it is Mother Nature. At my house it is my wife, and at the jazz club down the street it is Gretchen Valade.
When you enter the Dirty Dog Jazz Café you are greeted by a host and a dog that is scratching itself because it might be a little bit dirty. The dog is not real. It is just one of the many artifacts in a club chock full of charm, music, civility and art. Fortunately for those of us who like jazz played in an intimate yet expansive space the Dirty Dog has been created in its proprietor Gretchen’s vision. She was looking for a nice place to spend an evening. The Dirty Dog is a handsomely turned out establishment that does not take itself too seriously. This is obvious when you encounter the art on the walls. The original art that covers the walls captures the joyous character of the club and its owner. Gretchen has shown her appreciation for the musicians and patrons by surrounding them with a veritable art gallery.
I have been asked from time to time to add a piece of art to the walls of the Dirty Dog. It is a little scary to try to live up to the standards that exist in the music, food and service. It always turns out to be a misplaced fear of failure as it is a place with a low judgemental factor, so you might as well have fun. That quite honestly is what this place is all about.
Dee Dee Pierce oil painting by John Osler
Dee Dee Pierce and his wife Billie headlined a jazz band that was a fixture for years in New Orleans. He was an American jazz trumpeter and cornetist. He is best remembered for the songs “Peanut Vendor” and “Dippermouth Blues”, His wife Billie played the piano.
I never met Dee Dee or Billie except through some early recordings and by going through Tulane University’s archives. Their early playing was rough hewn, bluesy and authentic to their situation. I was moved to paint their story. I think there is a lot of a journeyman jazz musician’s struggle in his face. Gretchen must have agreed when she put the painting on the wall.
Gretchen has curated most of the stuff that finds a place on a shelf or a wall. There are a lot of images of dogs and jazz artists. There is evidence throughout the club that she is unafraid to put up what pleases her. She is confident that this is going to bring a little happiness to the rest of us. The Dirty Dog is dedicated to promote and support all artists. All it takes is to be authentic and give a good effort.
Art, springtime flowers and family support can not be touched by this virus. Get all you can get.
Art is in the eyes of the beholder, but someone has to get it in front of the beholders. The Dirty Dog understands this. They share original jazz, art and food for those who like that sort of thing.
All this is will be back on display when the lights go back on at the Dirty Dog.
Until then, be safe.
John Osler
We are all in the hands of our scientists. They will let us know when we can return to a normal life or at least near normal. Old weezy folks like myself have a special interest in them getting it right. They only have one job, get to know this virus so that they can defeat it. This article is from the Fred Hutch News Service.
If there is one thing most of us have learned about the coronavirus itself, we know it is covered with spikes.
In news broadcasts about the COVID-19 crisis, that gray Styrofoam ball dotted with red spikes has become an unofficial logo of the pandemic.
We even see the spikes as they appear — with artificial coloring — in photos from powerful electron microscopes. They ring the body of the virus like jewels in a crown, hence the name of this microbial family — coronavirus.
Biologically speaking, those spikes are critically important. They are literally the point of contact that our own vulnerable lung cells have with the virus, SARS-CoV-2. Like a key cut for a specific lock, the spike slides neatly into the matching sites of receptors found on cells that line the airways of our lungs. Once secured, this connection allows the entire ball-shaped virus to slip into the cell. Inside, it makes thousands of copies of itself. And the potentially lethal infection has begun.
Yet this spike has qualities that make it different from other feared contagions like HIV and influenza, giving scientists a possible route to an effective vaccine or cure. Genetically, it is relatively stable compared to surface proteins on other viruses, and that makes it less of a moving target for antibodies or drugs designed to block it.
“That’s good news for slowing resistance to antivirals. It’s good news for vaccine development,” said Dr. Michael Emerman, a virologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.
A researcher at Fred Hutch and the University of Washington, Emerman is a leading expert on how pandemic viruses like influenza, HIV and SARS cross from animals to humans. It is thought each of those viruses, on their evolutionary journeys, jumped from another species: Influenza from birds to humans, HIV from chimpanzees, SARS — and its close cousin SARS-CoV-2, most likely from bats.
Influenza and HIV are known for surface structures made of proteins and sugars that rapidly change their shape. Attempts to block HIV with a vaccine have failed for three decades because of that virus’ ability to hide from the human immune system, including from those tiny proteins called antibodies that are raised naturally against HIV’s surface. Influenza viruses are shape shifters as well, because they evolve new surface structures against antibodies from vaccines. That forces vaccine makers to reformulate flu shots against different strains every few years.
Coronaviruses are genetically more stable because they carry within them a mechanism for correcting errors that naturally occur through mutation of their genetic code. The genomes of HIV, flu, and coronavirus are all made of RNA, which is less stable and more prone to error than the DNA that stores our own genetic information. All three viruses mutate because they rely on RNA, but coronaviruses do so more slowly.
Therefore, researchers have reason to hope that if they can come up with a treatment or vaccine that locks onto those signature spikes of coronavirus, it is less likely to make a quick escape and is more likely to be controlled.
One thing that is different about the arrival of SARS-CoV-2 from pandemics of the past is that researchers are now equipped with tools that have enabled them, within weeks of the discovery of the virus, to sequence its genome and model the protein structure of the spikes. Using cryo-electron microscopes — which give scientists astoundingly accurate images of the spike — we already know the knobbly terrain of its surfaces and likely spots on it for antibodies or drugs to dock and possibly disable it.
Fred Hutch scientists — and researchers throughout the world — are feverishly working to find antibodies that naturally attach the SARS-CoV-2 spike, gumming up its ability to enter lung cells so easily. These tiny proteins could be produced in the lab and used as drugs to block the virus, and they might serve as the basis for a new vaccine or blood tests that show prior exposure to the virus. They could prove to be critical in the fight against COVID-19.
Sabin Russell is a staff writer at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. For two decades he covered medical science, global health and health care economics for the San Francisco Chronicle, and wrote extensively about infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS. He was a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, and a freelance writer for the New York Times and Health Affairs. Reach him at srussell@fredhutch.org.
Are you interested in reprinting or republishing this story? Be our guest! We want to help connect people with the information they need. We just ask that you link back to the original article, preserve the author’s byline and refrain from making edits that alter the original context. Questions? Email us at communications@fredhutch.org
It is difficult enough to be isolated, but it is really hard not to know how your friends are faring. I miss the ease with which the staff of the Dirty Dog went about their business in a tight space. I would watch them pause to take in the music and listen to the musicians talk admiringly about the staff. Mutual respect brought people together in a strong bond. A tiny virus has separated them. How is that possible? I sure don’t have a clue how a virus can shut down the whole world. I also never could figure out how jazz artists can seamlessly improvise. Life has many mysteries. To some people that is a welcome challenge. They will try to find a way to understand and describe the world that will lift them a little bit out of it. Right now we are asked to just stay in place.
To get rid of some of the mystery it is helpful to understand why social distancing is necessary. It is hard to avoid experts trying to explain to us why we should screw up our lives for the common good. They want us to live in a bubble until the all clear alarm goes off. I personally believe them but want to know more. After we figure out how to defeat the coronavirus, maybe we will learn how jazz musicians can improvise as an
ensemble. Hopefully they will remember how to play together in the same room.
And when the virus is no longer we will have a chance to look back at those in our community who rose above the challenges. Here are two giants of jazz who certainly gave us examples of a life well lived.
I was with my Dad on the first day in April when he passed away. The jazz world has now lost two jazzmen who were well known for being world class dads. They both passed away on April 1 2020. They were both victims of the coronavirus that is described below.
Photo courtesy Mark L Brown
“The cause of his death came from complications of Covid-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus”, his son Branford said.
Ellis Marsalis was a pianist and an educator whose own abilities were sometimes overshadowed by his well known four musician sons.The Marsalises were widely understood to be jazz’s royal family. Wynton had become the founding artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York, the world’s pre-eminent nonprofit organization devoted to jazz, and he has won the Pulitzer Prize for music. Branford is a world-renowned saxophonist and bandleader with three Grammys to his name. Delfeayo is a trombonist, and Jason is a drummer and vibraphonist, boh are well established as bandleaders. Delfeayo and Jason have played the Dirty Dog while Branford and Wynton have graced the Detroit Jazz Festival.
Ellis Marsalis spent decades as a working musician and teacher in New Orleans. He was a beloved musician,mentor, husband and father.
“My dad was a giant of a musician and teacher, but an even greater father,” “He poured everything he had into making us the best of what we could be.”
“My daddy passed away last night. We now join the worldwide family who are mourning grandfathers and grandmothers, mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers— kinfolk, friends, neighbors, colleagues, acquaintances and others.
What can one possibly say about loss in a time when there are many people losing folks that mean so much to them? One of my friends lost both her mother AND father just last week. We all grieve and experience things differently, and I’m sure each of my five brothers are feeling and dealing in their own way.
My daddy was a humble man with a lyrical sound that captured the spirit of place–New Orleans, the Crescent City, The Big Easy, the Curve. He was a stone-cold believer without extravagant tastes.
Like many parents, he sacrificed for us and made so much possible. Not only material things, but things of substance and beauty like the ability to hear complicated music and to read books; to see and to contemplate art; to be philosophical and kind, but to also understand that a time and place may require a pugilistic-minded expression of ignorance.
His example for all of us who were his students (a big extended family from everywhere), showed us to be patient and to want to learn and to respect teaching and thinking and to embrace the joy of seriousness. He taught us that you could be conscious and stand your ground with an opinion rooted ‘in something’ even if it was overwhelmingly unfashionable. And that if it mattered to someone, it mattered.
I haven’t cried because the pain is so deep….it doesn’t even hurt. He was absolutely my man. He knew how much I loved him, and I knew he loved me (though he was not given to any type of demonstrative expression of it). As a boy, I followed him on so many underpopulated gigs in unglamorous places, and there, in the passing years, learned what it meant to believe in the substance of a fundamental idea whose only verification was your belief.
I only ever wanted to do better things to impress HIM. He was my North Star and the only opinion that really deep down mattered to me was his because I grew up seeing how much he struggled and sacrificed to represent and teach vital human values that floated far above the stifling segregation and prejudice that defined his youth but, strangely enough, also imbued his art with an even more pungent and biting accuracy.
But for all of that, I guess he was like all of us; he did the best he could, did great things, had blind spots and made mistakes, fought with his spouse, had problems paying bills, worried about his kids and other people’s, rooted for losing teams, loved gumbo and red beans, and my momma’s pecan pie. But unlike a healthy portion of us, he really didn’t complain about stuff. No matter how bad it was.
A most fair-minded, large-spirited, generous, philanthropic (with whatever he had), open-minded person is gone. Ironically, when we spoke just 5 or 6 days ago about this precarious moment in the world and the many warnings he received ‘to be careful, because it wasn’t his time to pass from COVID’, he told me, “Man, I don’t determine the time. A lot of people are losing loved ones. Yours will be no more painful or significant than anybody else’s”.
That was him, “in a nutshell”, (as he would say before talking for another 15 minutes without pause).
In that conversation, we didn’t know that we were prophesying. But he went out soon after as he lived—-without complaint or complication. The nurse asked him, “Are you breathing ok?” as the oxygen was being steadily increased from 3 to 8, to too late, he replied, ”Yeah. I’m fine.”
For me, there is no sorrow only joy. He went on down the Good Kings Highway as was his way, a jazz man, “with grace and gratitude.”
And I am grateful to have known him.”
BUCKY PIZZARELLI (January 9, 1926 – April 1, 2020)
His son the guitarist and singer John Pizzarelli said the cause was the coronavirus.
Ellis’ and Bucky’s lives were full of twists, turns ups and downs, yet these two celebrated jazzmen gave more than they took, with class and grace. They gave us a blueprint of how we should be going forward.
These are not our easiest days. but from time to time I am trying to reflect only on the possible. It is possible that a miraculous drug will allow us to safely return to normal. It is also possible that everyone around us keeps their distance long enough and no one spreads infection. But for now we are being asked to remain in place for at least a month. There is little surety of when it will be safe to resume normal life as we know little about this new strain of virus.
I thought it would be helpful to know as much as we can comprehend. I found this article that is really well written about this very clever virus. It will inform and make us cautious enough to defeat this threat.
Stay safe,
John Osler
The Washington Post is providing this story for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the coronavirus.
But as soon as it gets into a human airway, the virus hijacks our cells to create millions more versions of itself.
It is, in other words, just sneaky enough to wreak worldwide havoc.
When viruses encounter a host, they use proteins on their surfaces to unlock and invade its unsuspecting cells. Then they take control of those cells’ molecular machinery to produce and assemble the materials needed for more viruses.
“Let’s say dengue has a tool belt with only one hammer,” said Vineet Menachery, a virologist at the University of Texas Medical Branch. This coronavirus has three different hammers, each for a different situation.
Scientists believe that the SARS virus originated as a bat virus that reached humans via civet cats sold in animal markets. This current virus, which can also be traced to bats, is thought to have had an intermediate host, possibly an endangered scaly anteater called a pangolin.
Funding for research on coronaviruses increased after the SARS outbreak, but in recent years that funding has dried up, Taubenberger said. Such viruses usually simply cause colds and were not considered as important as other viral pathogens, he said.
Andrew Pekosz, a virologist at Johns Hopkins University, compared viruses to particularly destructive burglars: They break into your home, eat your food, use your furniture and have 10,000 babies. “And then they leave the place trashed,” he said.
Unfortunately, humans have few defenses against these burglars.
For this reason, antiviral drugs must be extremely targeted and specific, said Stanford virologist Karla Kirkegaard. They tend to target proteins produced by the virus (using our cellular machinery) as part of its replication process. These proteins are unique to their viruses. This means the drugs that fight one disease generally don’t work across multiple ones.
“Modern medicine is constantly needing to catch up to new emerging viruses,” Kirkegaard said.
Understanding these proteins could be critical to developing a vaccine, said Alessandro Sette, head of the center for infectious disease at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Previous research has shown that the spike proteins on SARS are what trigger the immune system’s protective response. In a paper published this month, Sette found the same is true of SARS-CoV-2.
This gives scientists reason for optimism, according to Sette. It affirms researchers’ hunch that the spike protein is a good target for vaccines. If people are inoculated with a version of that protein, it could teach their immune system to recognize the virus and allow them to respond to the invader more quickly.
“It also says the novel coronavirus is not that novel,” Sette said.
And if SARS-CoV-2 is not so different from its older cousin SARS, then the virus is probably not evolving very fast, giving scientists developing vaccines time to catch up.
In the meantime, Kirkegaard said, the best weapons we have against the coronavirus are public health measures, such as testing and social distancing, and our own immune systems.
For all its evil genius and efficient, lethal design, Kirkegaard said, “the virus doesn’t really want to kill us. It’s good for them, good for their population, if you’re walking around being perfectly healthy.”
Evolutionarily speaking, experts believe, the ultimate goal of viruses is to be contagious while also gentle on their hosts — less a destructive burglar and more a considerate house guest.
That’s because highly lethal viruses like SARS and Ebola tend to burn themselves out, leaving no one alive to spread them.
But a germ that’s merely annoying can perpetuate itself indefinitely. One 2014 study found that the virus causing oral herpes has been with the human lineage for 6 million years.
Seen through this lens, the novel coronavirus that is killing thousands across the world is still early in its life. It replicates destructively, unaware that there’s a better way to survive.
But bit by bit, over time, its RNA will change. Until one day, not so far in the future, it will be just another one of the handful of common cold coronaviruses that circulate every year, giving us a cough or sniffle and nothing more.
Jazz Vibes
Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra / Lionel Hampton, the greatest vibraphonist of them all / born April 20, 1908 in Louisville, Kentucky. He was also a drummer, pianist, percussionist, band leader and actor.
Aside from the instrumental stand-bys such as the saxophone, trumpet, bass, piano and drums, musicians over the years have brought a wide array of instruments to the Jazz idiom including ancient and traditional instruments from various cultures including percussion, violins, harps and even bagpipes.
One such instrument is the vibraphone, also known as the vibraharp or simply the “vibes”. Although it was invented around 1920, this electrically powered instrument is related to the balafon and marimbas, which have ancient roots in Central Africa going back nearly a millennium.
The balafon was created in Central Africa in the 12th century. It has wooden slats or keys that rest on top of gourded resonators. The marimba’s ancestor is a type of balafon that African slaves built in Central America around the 16th centuries and was used by the Mayans in festivals and religious ceremonies.
These instruments were actually early keyboards and influenced the creation of the piano, xylophone and other melodically based percussion instruments.
The vibraphone’s sound comes from tuned metal bars or slats that are struck with felt or wool mallets that make its soft, mellow tone quality. Suspended vertically below each bar is a tubular resonator that sustains the tone when the bar is struck.
The special feature that gives the vibraphone its name, are small, electrical fans below the bars that cause a vibrato effect by opening and closing the resonators. A pedal-controlled felt damper, can silence the bars, permitting the playing of short notes and sustained chords. Changing the speed of the vibrato, or using hard mallets are other ways to alter tone quality of the vibraphone.
The vibraphone was first used to add novelty sound effects in vaudeville orchestras and early films. This was soon overpowered by its popularity in Jazz in the 1930s – the idiom where it is mostly used to this day. Louis Armstrong was attracted to its sound around 1929, however it was Lionel Hampton, (1908-2002), who is most associated with the instrument. He was a popular drummer and pianist who noticed the vibraphone back stage at the NBC studios where it was used for the NBC chimes on the radio. It was love at first sight.
“Hamp” became the vibes’ biggest “star”, playing the instrument on stage and in films with such notables as Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, Quincy Jones, as well as in his own bands. He had a prolific career and still performed well into his 80’s.
The Dirty Dog Jazz Café has recently hosted many world-class, award-winning vibraphonists including the amazing Roy Ayers as well as Jason Marsalis, Warren Wolf, and others.
Other significant Jazz vibraphonists have included Cal Tjader, Red Norvo, Tito Puente, Terry Gibbs, Stefon Harris, Dave Samuels, and the Grammy-winning, Mack Avenue recording artist, Gary Burton.
Some important vibes players from Detroit include the legendary Milt Jackson of the Modern Jazz Quartet, Terry Pollard, and Jack Brokensha, among others.
Detroit Public Radio mainstay, Judy Adams, is a pianist, composer and musicologist who hosts a Jazz and contemporary music show on CJAM 99.1FM and guest hosts on WRCJ 90.9FM. She made her mark at WDET 101.9FM where she was program director and daily on-air music host for more than 30 years.