Jazz, Darwin and God....Thank you Ben Sidran

Last night, Scott (my husband) and I attended a performance at the Dakota Jazz Club - Ben Sidran (who wrote Steve Miller's Space Cowboy) hooked up with some of his cronies from here in Minneapolis and gave a smokin' performance. Not just good old jazz standards, but he transformed a Dylan piece into something completely, wonderfully different. They say they didn't rehearse together as a group for the last 15 years, and even if that's only partially true - it seems they picked it up where they left it when they were touring....

I must admit that I didn't know Ben Sidran from anyone until Scott called me, all excited about the idea of buying tickets.... but then he showed me his bio, and this is one well credentialed cat - both musically and educationally. And it shows when he's on stage.... as he was launching into one of his songs, he talked about his philosophy that Jazz is simply an extension of Darwinian principles... that the feeling you get while participating in a jazz performance dates back to the dawn of human existence... that the music is similar to the behavior of humans around the fires of 250,000 years ago. The music reflects and enourages the "need to breed". He posited that the idea of "god" may have origins in the very same feelings.... in other words - if it makes all of us feel this good, and we aren't sure why (we can't see it or touch it), it must be something outside of what we can perceive, and we'll call it God.

Interesting sideline for a jazz performance on a Monday night in April!