By Juan C. Ayllon Acclaimed Jazz and sessions guitarist, Larry Carlton, once said, “Blues are good for the soul,” but, I would expand his statement to include listening to good music, period. Live or reproduced -- it doesn’t matter. My memories run deep and vivid. As a toddler, I sit next to my father on a couch and teeth on the neck and body of his acoustic guitar while he’s playing. The wood, like its sound, was soft and comforting. In the years to come, I grow up listening to Bolivian folk, classical, and Harry Belafonte singing “Day O” on the Heathkit stereo that he’s built.
I buy my first album, Bobby Sherman’s “Easy Come, Easy Go” on vinyl, in the third grade. His voice is pleasant and the song, catchy, like a well-crafted jingle. I lay on my bed transfixed by the warm sounds emanating from my vacuum tube-based clock radio tuned to Motown hits and pop stations like WLS, where the vocals by in Hall and Oates’ “Sarah Smile” and Gladys Knight and the Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia” sooth and enchant me. As a middle schooler, I laugh with delight as an elderly Bolivian dignitary in a dark suit clings to the cover of his new vinyl album, Rod Stewart’s Blondes Have More Fun, bobs his head to the dance beat and says, “I like this,” as it plays in our living room instead of the dad music (my dad, a chemical engineer worked a marketing territory for Universal Oil Products that included Bolivia, Chile and Ecuador). At 21, I take a drag from my cheap, Swisher Sweet cigar and a sip from my bottle of Grolsch, tilt back my seat in my Honda hatchback, watch the stars and let the strains from Styx, Kansas and other bands on cassette wash over my best friend, Scotty, and me as we sit, parked, in my parent’s driveway. As a returning college art student at Cal State San Bernardino, I trade a drawing of the band for a Dotsero CD while watching them live at a jazz bar in Riverside and, later, make oil paintings in all-night sessions with them, David Sanborn, Larry Carlton, and Al Jarreau playing on my headphones at the art studio. It’s transfixing and energizing, keeping me going for hours. In my 30s, I begin building my first serious sound system with a pair of Paradigm Esprit bipolar speakers, sell another charcoal drawing to the mother of Kirk Whalum when I witness the talented sax player and his brother at The China Club (his father-in-law taps me on the shoulder and asks if it’s for sale), and sit in the lawn seats with friends at Ravinia Park to take in Pat Metheny, Robert Cray, and David Sanborn (I meet my first wife at his show). Then, as a 37 year-old teacher going through divorce, I hire a talented, gifted high school swinging jazz quartet to entertain guests at my home as a blizzard roars outside. The saxophone, hollow body guitar, bass and drums are an incredible treat for the few that manage to make it! In my 40s, I catch Zora Young and other blues acts at my brother’s restaurant, Cabs Wine Bar Bistro. There’s a lot to be said about an evening of fine cuisine, select wines and good music. I meet my wife, Belle, while tearing down our church’s portable sound system -- with its horribly complicated Allen and Heath mixing board -- at a middle school where we held services in 2004. She was a blue eyed beauty, but going through a divorce then, so I did not pursue her until 2010 when, several months into our relationship, she realizes how serious I am when I set up my my stereo system, anchored by a pair of Martin Logan Sequel electrostatic speakers, in her living room. She and her kids are blown away by how good music and movies can sound when I come over (funny, but even then, she struggles with pressing the right buttons to get it to play properly). Now five years remarried at 55, I rock my man cave with Coldplay and Boston booming over my Von Schweikert speakers and Hsu Research ULS-15 Mk 2 subwoofer when I have the guys over for beers and cigars. Having just turned 57, I sink into the couch with my wife and a glass of wine as The Eagles, Cliff Richard and Chris Isaak mesmerize over that same system with new tweaks, components and upgrades -- and allow nature to take its course. The nuanced details, the tone, the melody, the sense of space, not to mention her smile, the smell of her hair and perfume as she’s snuggled up close is intoxicating. Today, my wife is driving out of town with my stepdaughter and her husband to visit my oldest stepson and his wife, so I’m having a buddy over tonight to listen to vinyl on the VPI Prime Signature turntable and Voyager phono stage that I am reviewing and, on Sunday, I am hosting an audiophile group to hear music rendered over these and other high end audio gear. While I’ll miss my wife, I will enjoy the fellowship of others who, like me, enjoy the warmth, comfort and magic of our constant companion, music, in all its splendor. It’s going to be a wonderful weekend!
6 Comments
Ken Ktieger
3/24/2018 10:17:42 am
Nice comments and your search into a nice music system was very interesting. I learned much about you and your journey. Keep enjoying the music , I always do.
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5/13/2018 09:04:31 am
Thanks, Ken. I appreciate your comments and your friendship! Have a super week.
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O_o scar
5/13/2018 08:08:24 am
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5/13/2018 09:09:56 am
Hi Oscar,
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O_o scar
5/13/2018 10:03:50 am
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Juan C. AyllonA writer, artist, educator and owner of Prairie Audio Man Cave, he lives with his wife, Isabel (AKA Belle), and their Goldendoodle, Liam, enjoys listening to high fidelity music and all things hi-fi at their home in the greater Chicagoland area.. Archives
March 2024
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