A Digital Age Parable or How I Found Hal
I have a confession to make. I have never, not once, listened to anything that Hal Crook has recorded.
Tonight I was cooking dinner and had itunes shuffling in the other room. A Phil Woods Quintet track came on and the trombone player was someone whose playing I didn't recognize. I googled and found out it was Hal Crook. So I searched youtube for 'Hal Crook' and this was the first result that was professionally recorded. And now I pass it on to you.
Holy smokes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1Al11HpezI
Anyway it made me think a moment about the nature of continuing to explore and refine one's own musical tastes, particularly as a performing musician. Just fifteen (and really less than ten) years ago I wouldn't have been able to interact with the internet in the way I did tonight. I might NEVER HAVE HEARD A NOTE of Hal Crook's playing in a lifetime. It's definitely a good thing that I did. I still can't decide if the larger impact of that ease of navigation through vast piles of information is really good for us or not.