Who am I? And why have we linked?

I am described as the world's biggest jazz and music and arts-in-general enthusiast. I
have always enjoyed music and took classical piano lessons from the ages of 8 to 11,
and a few instructional sessions in vibraphone. I became interested in "the music"
through attending live performances in the Detroit area, while gaining Chemistry and
subsequent Engineering degrees, the physical fundamentals of my approach to life,
at Wayne State University.

I developed the passion and desire for the promotion of music and creative efforts,
through seeing and hearing live jazz performances of greats such as Sonny Stitt,
Dexter Gordon, Art Blakey, Art Farmer, Milt Jackson, Grant Green, Archie Shepp,
later Lester Bowie, and present collaborations of the Frank Foster Minority Band,
Duke Ellington Orchestra, the Count Basie Orchestra, Ted Sirota's Rebel Souls,
Malachi Thompson's African Brass, Kahil El'Zabar's Ensembles, Robert Irving's
School of Cool, Ernest Dawkins' Live the Spirit, Fareed Haque's Garaj Mahal,
and various combinations and subsets of those mentioned and the uncountable
solo, duo, trio, quartet, quintet, sextet, septet, octet, and so forth performances
of those not mentioned…(the list keeps expanding and expanding and if you do
not see your name, be aware that I do cherish and value each of you!)

Today I am currently employed in the corporate world and tinker with percussion.
I own a "traveling" set of Deagan Vibes, built around the time I was created.
Deagan was recommended by Milt Jackson as the brand to buy when I first saw
him live here in Chicago at the Jazz Showcase and was so blown away I knew
I had to have a set. I procured an affordable used set of Deagan vibes in the
Detroit area, through a dear friend, drummer Danny Spencer, who played rhythm
behind some of the masters in Detroit's Baker's Keyboard Lounge. When I moved
to Chicago in 1995, and connected again with Milt Jackson, he turned me on to
"Century Mallets", the old Chicago-based Deagan factory, and Gilberto Serno,
who reconditioned the vibes, quite nicely.

They honed their way back to their creation land and I believe have magical qualities.

In the past few years I have been avidly attending live musical performances,
and have gained steady confirmation of the wealth of pleasure and peace available
for all to receive through music and art synergies.

Since the turn of the millennium, I have experimented with independent video recording
of live jazz for the eventual production of a documentary piece to strategically expose
the creativity of the music, for present and future generations, who may or may not
have the opportunity to practice the live experience. My natures are positive and of
maintaining balance, and although negative and lower vibrations exist in the universe,
and have their place in the order, they have been more than aptly portrayed at this
point in time.

To keep up with the myriads of music here in the city that never wakes without wonder,
Chicago, land of the super sunrises, I developed schedules which I passed to my friends
through email. I began to review the scene of jazz and arts for those who were unable to
attend. It was so well received, I had to use and create a device in which to warehouse
the information. And Walla, Jazzin' with Zebra Libra was born and now resides within
http://www.jazzhope.com

In conclusion reference the seminal vocal group: Dave Lambert, Jon Hendricks, and Annie Ross.
Their first project was setting words to Count Basie band numbers; they sang everything
but the rhythm section parts, which were played by the actual Basie rhythm section.
Annie Ross' lyrics, "Twisted"

TWISTED
They say as a child
I appeared a little bit wild
With all my crazy ideas
But I knew what was happening
I knew I was a genius
What's so strange when you're a wizard at three
I knew that this was meant to be (BE-BEBOP)