The first time he heard John Coltrane's version of "My Favorite Things," Robin Washington was about 6 years old, killing time outside the Chicago office of the Congress of Racial Equality.
His mother was inside working -- making mimeographs, stuffing envelopes -- and Washington and his brother were playing near a cast iron elevator shaft. He heard the song, which eventually would become a jazz standard, playing inside the office.
And every time Washington has heard it since, it has taken him back to that moment in the early 1960s.
"I can even smell the varnish when I hear it," he said.
In the year leading up to the 50th anniversary of Coltrane's famous recording made on Oct. 21, 1960, Washington dug into the history of the song, snagging interviews with the last living member of the John Coltrane Quartet, other musicians and jazz experts to tell the tale of the song that went from a show tune sung by Mary Martin to jazz classic.
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This 29-minute documentary, "My Favorite Things at 50," will air at 7 p.m. Monday on KUWS-FM 91.3. It also will be played on at least 10 other jazz-specific and public radio stations around the country.
"It had to be done," Washington said. "I can be non-journalistic and say 'My Favorite Things' is my favorite piece of music. I actually not only grew up on it, Coltrane's version ... I actually heard it first (before the Julie Andrews version from the 'Sound of Music' movie)."
Washington, who is editor of the News Tribune, began researching the song in May 2009. This past February, he scored an interview with pianist McCoy Tyner, who was in the quartet. It was the interview he needed to get in order to make his piece, Washington said.
On the program, Tyner recalled Coltrane's intent in making the recording.
"He wanted it to feel like people were at a live performance," Tyner said. "Like you were right there, you know. And so, I love that about him. Because there were no mistakes."
At this point, Washington pointed out to the musician a bumbled note in the song.
"I think I kind of remember that," Tyner said, jokingly adding that since the critics never mentioned it, he is infallible.
Washington also included an interview with pianist Steve Kuhn, who also worked with Coltrane and had handwritten sheet music from the famous saxophone player. Ingrid Monson, a jazz scholar from Harvard University, and Peter Fitzsimmons, the executive director of the Jazz Heritage Society, also discuss the song.
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The program ends with Coltrane's 14-minute version of "My Favorite Things."
