Like most if not all of my jazz albums, the Dave Brubeck Quartet’s Time Out reminds me of my 20s.  I was pretty hardcore into jazz back then.  I always loved jazz, as I had always loved music in general, but in my 20s I became deeply involved in it thanks to an obsession with Jack Kerouac and the Beats.  I drew from jazz the same inspiration as a writer that Ti Jean did, and I wrote hundreds of thousands of words thanks to the music.

I didn’t study jazz as I did rock and roll, so I would never claim to be an expert.  And though I would like to be more of an authority on it I am satisfied for now being emotionally and intellectually and creatively moved by jazz music.  The albums I loved in my 20s represent more of a general space in time than…