Tanglewood ’69 Intro

I was working as a mechanical lab tech for the National Seal Div. of Federal Mogal in Ann Arbor Michigan. Had worked there for about a year and a half, but no seniority and no real prospects for advancement. I was living in a rented room in a house with some students from the U of M on Church St. In the early spring, I got an ad in the mail for the summer session of the Birkshire Music Center at Tanglewood. The Jazz Improvisation course looked good to me, so I sent in my application and a couple of weeks later got my acceptance letter. When the time came, I packed up my guitar, violin, and a puptent (no money for room and board at the music center – barely enough for the tuition – would camp out at the nearby lake campsites). I quit my job and made the trek to the Massachusetts Birkshires and Tanglewood. The following poem is my experience in a nutshell… Certainly, there was a lot more to that story, but that’s for another time.

Tanglewood ’69

jazz theory
advanced students
way behind
makeup and
keep up

Baker and Kohker
taught patterns
of improv my
trusty fiddle
the proof thereof

lean-to on a
platform by the
lake – sailboat
anchored there
at night

saw moon landing
in student lounge
saw Joni and B.B.
King live on the
Friday night stage

hitched to Boston
extended family
not seen in years
weekend reprieve
then back to jazz

dropped out beginning
of August – bus ride home
went out with friends
and missed Woodstock by
a quarter hour

summer of music
a moon walk and
travel – left to
ponder mysteries
beyond my ken and

Tanglewood ’69

–LE