Every single time, and I mean EVERY SINGLE TIME I see a reference to the blog called “If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats” it reminds me of a story my friend Ben told me. Ben is a sax player who studied at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT. One of his professors there was Jackie McLean who, it was rumored, stabbed Charles Mingus. Accounts vary of the stabbing vary, so one of Ben’s classmates asked McLean if it was true and he answered with an instant classic. “Yeah, I stabbed the motherfucker, and I’ll stab you, too, if you don’t practice.” I love it. I’m glad ICPWAGTBAWLOFC keeps getting bigger because it means I get to keep remembering this story.