<HTML>In a message dated 10/20/= 01 10:27:57 AM Central Daylight Time, davidlovepianos@earthlink.net (David L= ove) writes: <BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=CITE style="BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-= LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">My point is that for most j= azz pianists that I know, an altered V chord in the key of C should have the same character as and altered V chord in th= e key of Ab.  Seems simple enough</BLOCKQUOTE>. 26 years ago, when I was a senior in college, I spent the year abroad in= France.  The group of other college students I traveled with went firs= t to Paris.  We all were taken to the famous boulevard called "L'Avenue= des Champs Elysées".  The Arc de Triomphe, all the exquisite shops a= nd other places to see that were new and different to us were not what attra= cted a sizable number of our group. What place was it that most of the group wanted to visit?  The Mc D= onald's restaurant.  Why?  Just to see if the hamburgers there tas= ted the *same* as they do in the US.  And to their astonished glee and = surprise, they did.  They talked about that fact at length. I declined to go because I already knew what to expect and didn't want t= he same thing that had already been served 100 million times before.  O= f course, I was viewed as the *oddball* but I didn't care.  I selected = a pastry shop that had items I had never seen nor tasted before.  Most = of the other group thought my choice was *wierd*.  It took them much lo= nger, after they had settled down into the university town (where there was = no Mc Donald's) before they discovered the infinite delights of a French Pas= try shop. To some people, the same bland consistency, day in and day out is what t= hey want.  It is what they are comfortable with.  Others want vari= ety and adventure.  In music, Jazz or otherwise, my belief has always b= een that there should be a *reason* to be in a particular key and there shou= ld be a *reason* to modulate.  What would be the purpose of playing in = any particular key or even modulating if there is no distinction between the= m? To me, the choice of keys and modulating while in ET, particularly in th= e Jazz medium gives about as much satisfaction as choosing the Mc Donald's f= urther down the street rather than the one close by just for a change of sce= nery. Bill Bremmer RPT Madison, Wisconsin</HTML>