You, like Glueman, have trounced upon one sloppy metaphor. You have not responded to the core of my argument - that you have consistently misrepresented the meaning of the term 'folk process' and you have maligned folklorists without providing a shred of evidence for your accusations.

I do believe musical evolution in jazz and the folk process share a certain degree of commonality. One possible difference, a significant one in my view, is that while folk is accessable to singers and musicians of all levels of competence, jazz is more the province of masters. I don't believe there is a corresponding process in classical music, nothing like the process that led to hundreds of variants of 'Barbara Allen', anyway.

But you know, I was just thinking of ordering the Cox CD - and I feel a certain gratitude to the folklorists who recorded his music. But I'm sure they were just a bunch of agenda-driven parasites, right SO'P?

G.G.