Readers React: Wisdom from a jazz great

To the editor: Back when I was a journalism major at what was then San Fernando Valley State College (later Cal State Northridge), it was so much of a tradition in our department to take Gerald Wilson’s jazz class as one of our electives, it was almost considered a “requirement.” (“Gerald Wilson dies at 96; multifaceted jazz musician,” Obituary, Sept. 8)

Those Wednesday nights of listening to wonderful recorded music (vinyl!) and Wilson’s own brand of historical — and sometimes hysterical — wisdom (how else would I know that Jelly Roll Morton was the father of American jazz?) were topped only by a live performance by his big band at the end of the semester.

A memorable time, indeed. I got an A. So did he.

Nancy Sayles Kaneshiro, Woodland Hills

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