Flamenco Sketches and thoughts about my dad's passing away

Today would have been my dad's birthday. He would have been 91. He passed away last year, and as anyone who has lost a loved one understands, the grieving process goes on for a while. I often find late spring (which was when he died) and October (it marks his birthday and my parents' wedding anniversary) to be somewhat difficult months. Don't worry. I function well enough. I just feel low-energy and melancholy more than anything else. I tend to gravitate towards more contemplative musical pieces when I put on a CD or stream music on YouTube or Spotify during those particular periods. 

I credit my dad with turning me on to a lot of what I think of as culture. I began reading philosophy books at an early age because he had quite a nice collection and they were within easy reach. There's something to be said for Stoicism, I learned. I also got turned on to history books, including oral histories. And of course my dad was a huge fan of British comedies, which were readily available on PBS stations back when I was a kid and teenager (and yes as a young adult), so I ended up becoming very familiar with the Monty Python troupe and their series and various films, the series Yes Minister and its follow-up Yes Prime Minister, The Good Neighbors, Are You Being Served, and so on. That definitely shaped my sense of humor. And my dad was a jazz fan, and in particular enjoyed the work of Miles Davis. I heard a lot of Miles' work, as well as other jazz artists, as well as plenty of classical and Spanish guitar growing up. My dad really enjoyed Miles Davis' work from the 1950s and into the 1960s before Miles went electric. I was more of an electric Miles fan. But the reality is that the best Miles Davis recordings hit just right regardless of what phase Miles was in at the time. 

On that note, I will give you Flamenco Sketches from the classic album Kind of Blue. It's a beautiful slow-moving number that pays homage to the work Miles was doing with arranger Gil Evans at the time and it has an almost Zen-like quality to it. I really can't explain it. What I do know is that it is ideal music when one is in a mood to contemplate, and that is where I am at these days.

In loving memory.