I am trying to disassociate myself from religious affairs as much as possible. It is merely egos and interests fighting with one another in the disguise of faithfullness.
All holy causes come down to a physical bonus in the form of promised lands or worldly reigns. "I wish all the religions went down the sink." sic K. Ataturk.

Yes I like Mr. Fastfingers too. I think the facial gestures he makes when playing the piano provides a visual element that adds to the pleasure one gets from listening to his excellent performance on the piano. He is also a wonderful person who is extremely modest, respectful and down to earth. I guess those qualities equally contribute to his potential for becoming one of the greatest artists of our century.

Here is an instant list the full version of which you can find at http://www.waer.org/30trumpets.html complete with the reviews.

1. Louis Armstrong
2. Miles Davis
3. Dizzy Gillespie
4. Clifford Brown
5. Lee Morgan
6. Clark Terry
7. King Oliver
8. Kenny Dorham
9. Harry "Sweets" Edison
10. Freddie Hubbard
11. Chet Baker
12. Roy Eldridge
13. Donald Byrd
14. Wynton Marsalis
15. Ruby Braff
16. Bix Beiderbecke
17. Arturo Sandoval
18. Cootie Williams
19. Fats Navarro
20. Woody Shaw
21. Maynard Ferguson


Both Marsalis and Davis rankings are surprizing. I listened to Maynard Ferguson and he is damn good too. Searching for music by anyone of those trumpet players above would be worthwhile.

Bring it along next time Keith. We can listen to it on my stereo.

That's what I am also saying portokal. Everyone of those trumpet players on my list is important from a certain point of view. For example, Armstrong was truely the best trumpet player in his verve years but his trumpet playing skill degraded gradually as he aged. Dizzy was also a phonemonal virtuoso and a long time performer with a glittering career. Wynton Marsalis can be safely claimed to be the best living jazz trumpet player. He also has a special weight in the Jazz scene as he has been instrumental in preserving the Jazz legacy by fighting against corruption it might otherwise have to go through. This alone is a very important contribution to the Jazz trumpet tradition. He is also a very diversified musician playing classical solo trumpet. He is a sought-after Baroque trumpet player although he put an end to that career of his as far as I know.

Miles Davis had also an exceptionally long and fruitful career. His strength was his innovative approach to Jazz trumpet playing. While not nearly as skilled as a player as some of the other big names, his strength was his diversity as a musician. He was very good at improvising and studied other genres incorporating elements from them into Jazz music. One such album by him was Sketches of Spain.

I have on CD several MP3 files each belonging to a famous trumpet player who interpretes Summertime by Gershwin. Each version is good from a certain point of view. While it is difficult to describe sound by writing, I would say Armstrong's version is the one closest to being magical.

Who was the greatest trumpet player ever? Here is my list:

Luouis Armstrong
Dizzy Gillespie
Wynton Marsalis
Miles Davis


I am not certain about the rankings of Davis and Marsalis. Dizzy might have been technically superior to Armstrong but then no one else sounds like Mr. Jazz and there is simply no explanation to that.

Hi. this is Akin I am a psycho and I hate your guts.

I have seen messages from a wealth of people - those quoting words from their learn-one-word-a-day subscriptions to pour their derisions upon things others say, in a bombastic manner. Those people are hardly ever short of such sarcastic remarks and they spit them out at will.

Outside the forum, the situation is not any better, the guy who parks his car next to mine is an asshole and, he will not heed my polite warnings. It is a world full of ignorance and rudeness not to mention deceit. That must be the reason why one Alan Parsons song from the 70's moans: "I don't want live in the real world". The real world is so full of problems...

Obviously, the Internet made its debut in a very timely manner just as humanity was getting fed up with the unbearable consequences of an industrial life style.
As a result, almost everyone has jumped on the Internet band wagon. Here, people feel as if they are demigods who are entitled to saying things normally they shouldn't. At this point, politeness, thoughtfulness and all the excellent aspects of the human trait are put aside.

Somewhere on the Internet there must be a file entitled “Net Etiquette”; I suggest that everyone should read it at least once.

Coming back to me, at this stage in my life, I am beginning to question myself fearing that I might have a previously undiscovered social dysfunction -one that has lingered in me for years waiting to be unearthed by a catalyst which in this case is the Internet. Admittedly, I was initially concerned more about falling victim to a state of procrastination induced by spending long hours in front of my computer screen. Presently, I am more or less convinced that I am a sociopath just like millions of others who kill time similarly -cursing and ridiculing people in the hope of freeing themselves of the boredom caused by their unbearable lives. Nevertheless, my reasons are probably the other way around. I am standing in the middle of this sad world and watch it collapse piece by piece.

When I was a little child, I was confident that tomorrow would be much better than today. I believed in progress and the benevolent effects of it on society. Today I am not sure about what future holds for us.

That being said, there is still some room for optimism; as it is expressed in a famous Livaneli song:

I gazed at the world from a coast
Hands all salty and a pearl sits on my palm
A blue vision stretching in vast space
And a yearning for freedom is tingling my heart
It is beauty
That will bring salvation to this world
It will all begin when one loves another.

Yes your conclusion is fully justifiable now that you consider stereotypes a necessity.

I spent the last week in Greece. My trip started in Athens and ended in Rhodos after spending a day on each one of the major Greek islands. Every town I visited in Greece was worth seeing. The beaches were nice and the museums were full of magnificient remnants of the past. During my stay in Greece I had a chance to make observations and hence direct comparisons between my country Turkey. Athens is less than 600 kilometers closer to a typical Western European country - say Germany - than Istanbul and, it is about that much closer to what we call a European life style. I spent 7 days in that country and being a sociable person tried to go into a dialogue with as many people as I could because I like socializing with people even better than sunbathing on a beach or you name it. Well the taxi driver I tried to talk to to lost his enthusiasm after learning that I was Turkish. Everyone I met had this little shock on learning about my nationality. What is the reason for this hatred? It is probably because prejudices provide the ground for justifying oneself. When you describe your identity with wrong criteria, you can feel happy with your conclusions which will give you a shelter from a cold and sad world.


Today the world is turning about cliches and stereotypes. I am talking about the stereotypes just like femme_fatal likes sharing with us every now and then. Indeed those women or men falling for a Turkish person are falling in love with a person without taking into account his nationality. I congratulate everyone who without heeding those ubiquitous clichés, open their hearts to people from other cultures. Whether they are Turkish or some other nationality.