it's jazz, dude

The manchild is dramatically displaying his award for "Outstanding Soloist" at a Jazz competition at Indiana State University a few weekends ago. I was discouraged from attending because, as I found out later, the highschoolers were turned loose to roam around the small campus by themselves most of the day, which was a small reward for having to get up at 6:30am on a Saturday. When he got back, I asked him what song he played for his solo win. He reminds me that it was a jazz competion--he wasn't asked to play a particular song, he just had to get up there and make something up. "Make something up?!" I gasped, "while you are standing there in front of a panel of judges? " Yeah, he says, no big deal, it went something like this--he runs up and down the scales in a hipcat skitskat jazzy tune. And I stand there, amazed and slack-jawed. I was a shy, nerdy kid. Under circumstances like that, I would've simply crumbled like a stale cookie. I'm very proud of the kiddo.