When I went away to sleepaway camp that summer, my mother not only cleaned and fumigated my room but threw out all the cigars I had hidden inside the bell of my tenor saxophone.

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Indeed, my son plays jazz saxophone, is on the tennis team, occasionally plays Xbox, hangs out with friends on the weekends and participates in several clubs, like Model UN.

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And just a couple of years ago, the saxophone player strapped his horn around my neck and showed me where to place my fingers on the keyboard and how to blow, and I did and I felt utterly transported.

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You've got guys playing all over the place, and then you have his alto saxophone playing these beautiful, lyrical lines over the top of this nonsense, and it all in my mind tends to make sense.

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