Kato Loves Coltrane

Kato the mystical cat now knows the word “Coltrane.” When I say it, he goes over to the CD player and waits for me to play him some jazz. It has to be jazz from John Coltrane or from a like-minded artist (Sonny Rollins, Thelonius Monk, Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, etc.) from the same era, the late 40’s to early 60’s. And it can’t be vocal jazz: I tried to play my CD of Fred Astaire singing while accompanied by Oscar Peterson and combo from 1952, but Kato meowed at the CD player until I (like the obedient staff-human I have become) put on an instrumental jazz CD for him, “Soultrane” by – you guessed it – John Coltrane. Then Kato curled up into a little ball and purred contentedly as he listened.