Last night I played with some amazing singers at the Ascension Episcopal Church in Pueblo. I came to the church hall thinking swing and was quickly absorbed in the styles of the church musicians playing gospel and R&B. In processing last night’s experience, I realize and appreciate more than ever that each genre of music has its own language, as speaking English is to Spanish or French, Chinese, Japanese, or whatever language. Just because you can speak another language doesn’t mean you can just waltz into a neighborhood and everybody knows what you are talking about. It depends on how you choose your words and how you pronounce the words. And, each language has its own dialects. When someone says, let’s play some jazz, it could be Big Band, 40’s Swing, Bebop, cool, Dixieland, or Blues. Gospel has its own styles as well, and I am not as well versed in that language. Well, anyway, we sat in the church hall, went over some tunes, shared some culture and let the sharing and creativity flow. It’s a wonderful thing, people living life, sharing experiences, learning from each other and appreciating other cultures. It was a good night.