This is a private link — no one else can see it.

THANK YOU!

Hi, Victor! Still just completely blown away by what Mary and the girls did for me — I didn’t know anything about Cameo, so it was a huge surprise. I was thinking maybe it was a computer simulation at first. I don’t think she could have picked a celebrity who is more real or more inspirational. I am deeply moved.

I’m surprised and humbled that she told you about my music, but here’s the link to a page with the whole album streaming: Tim Reynolds & Michael Sokolowski: Soul Pilgrimage

Electronic music is kind of a departure for me, but Tim and I had been talking about exploring a project like this for years; so when Covid hit, and we both had more time, we did it via file sharing.

I should mention that I’m from Charlottesville, and we have mutual friends in Carter and LeRoi — I go back to ‘83 with those guys, along with Tim, who is one of my very closest friends. I briefly met your brother at LeRoi’s memorial service — he knows my longtime collaborator and bassist, Houston Ross. Houston, Johnny Gilmore and I had a band playing my original music for many years. Don’t know if those names mean anything to you, but they are great musicians and people (Johnny, RIP). I would be surprised if we don’t have more people in common.

Mary and I saw you play before the pandemic in Charlottesville for the original Flecktones reunion show. She is a teacher and a wonderful person, not a music nerd at all — drawn to the inspiring, humanistic, and forward-thinking teaching videos of yours that I shared with her. She didn’t know much about the Flecktones, but when I said you were playing, she was in.

My two daughters (Elise, 29 & Stella, 22) are the most loving children a person could ask for. I am so blessed. And Stella is the real musician in the family — singer/songwriter/great guitarist. We tried to work out sending her to one of your camps as she was growing up, but we could never work the timing. Now that she’s grown, perhaps the 2 of us could attend one sometime. Especially when things get back more to normal.

I will always be grateful to my Berklee professor, Caroline Harvey, for assigning us The Music Lesson. It’s really a brilliant way to make your point. Pretty sure I read it in one sitting. And by the way, my friend Houston once said to me about 30 years ago, “What’s all this stuff people are saying about ‘finding your voice’? You already have your voice; you can talk, right?” And that is exactly right.

You might be interested in a project that speaks to the idea that we’re imbued with natural musical language: Improvise for Real. David Reed is, IMO, a genius who figured out a brilliant way to teach harmony through improvisation (not the other way around). His goal is to make jamming and musical conversation accessible to everyone, without all the confusing lingo — classical, jazz or otherwise. Just equip people with the ability to hear where the sounds are and access them at will… And it works for total beginners and advanced jazz musicians alike. I think the future music teaching establishment will use his work to teach western harmony. I often thought you guys should be aware of each other, but never knew how to hip you to it, so here’s my chance, I guess.

Ok, I’ve gone on far too long. Thank you for the super-kind words and for making this (already) the best birthday ever (except for the first one).

I hope your daughter has a wonderful year at school in Chicago. My youngest just finished — after a weird 1.5 years to end. So glad your daughter is getting something of an-person education, and hope things get back to normal soon. Safe travels, sir.

Much love,

Michael