When I was young, I was taught piano. Musically, my mother is a gifted classically trained pianist, though my piano training was under “Grandmother” Helen as she was known to me. Harsh, but respectful. My father was a jazz drummer. They were both many things, and my mother still is, but for a spell my father was quite a talented drummer. His uncle, my Great Uncle, George Wettling, was one of the greatest jazz drummers of all time. A staple of the Chicago scene, Uncle George was a lifelong friend and collaborator with Louis Armstrong. His career spanned the pinnacle of American Jazz, to Music Director for ABC TV in Manhattan, Jazz writer for Playboy, to art galleries across the globe where he was recognized as a contemporary of many abstract painters. He traded drum lessons for painting lessons with Pollack and Stuart Davis, in fact Davis was one of his best friends, they were neighbors in on 52nd in NYC. We could spend a few thousand terabytes talking about Uncle George, including the fact that he is DEAD CENTER in the most famous jazz photograph in history, A Great Day in Harlem. But my favorite token of his influence is the 1954 short film Jazz Dance. Regarded as the first “jazz documentary,” Jazz Dance captures a single night at a hot club in Manhattan. It’s Pee Wee Russel, Jimmy McPartland, Willie the Lion Smith… and a whole room of people losing their shit to jazz. Watch it HERE there’s nothing like it.