Riding with the jazz man

One of the most monotonous parts of my day is riding to and from class on the Campus Connector. It’s also one of the weirdest. It’s the only time of the day that I sit in a confined space with more than 20 people who rarely say one word to each other.

Yet, I was happily surprised the other day, when I hopped on the bus, to hear cool jazz music and a hearty hello from Rob Thompson, more commonly known as the “Jazz Man.”

I had never ridden on the Jazz Man’s bus before, but I had heard about it from multiple people. It turns out he has a long track record of credibility built up with students. He uses the music he plays to connect with his “captive audience” of passengers. I had heard from friends that he was so into jazz that he’s going to start a jazz radio station when he retires.

Even with this forewarning, I was still taken aback when I hopped on the Jazz Man’s bus. Numerous times he said goodbye to passengers and then gave them a courtesy honk as they walked away.

As I was sitting on the bus, the music stopped. The Jazz Man turned around, looked back at us passengers and said “Who’s feelin’ some B.B. King?” Smiles and nods ensued.

A bus full of students can be one of the toughest places to find music that agrees with everyone, but I think all passengers would agree that when you are riding on Rob Thompson’s bus, jazz is cool.

Matt Brickweg

University student