JT 50

This month: March 2006

The March 2006 issue was the first in which we ran a section of Farewell tribute pieces about those who had died during the preceding year. The concept was inspired (euphemism for theft) by a poignant piece in written by Tony Randall about his pal Jack Klugman—the Oscar to his Felix, as people of a certain age will recognize. It seemed to me that this approach to remembering the departed would work well. Indeed, the Farewell pieces we commissioned over the next dozen years proved to be some of the most memorable articles in our history, at least for me. I still vividly recall Les McCann writing about producer Joel Dorn that “I wish I had that same relationship with the women in my life,” or Randy Brecker's story about spitting into his brother Michael’s milk when they were kids, or Marcus Miller recounting how guitarist Hiram Bullock played his ass off barefoot in spandex pants.