David Bloom has an idea.
This is not an unusual occurrence. Bloom is filled with ideas and is never loath to express or explore them. He carries around a little recording gizmo into which he speaks his thoughts, observations and ideas. He has for more than a year been making a documentary about the meaning of “soul” and has interviewed on videotape dozens of people, including Studs Terkel, Oscar Brown Jr. and some kids at the University of Chicago Lab School, his alma mater.
He was raised in Hyde Park, the youngest of two sons of Sophie and the late Benjamin Bloom. She taught reading in public schools. He was a University of Chicago professor whose research and books have influenced generations of educators worldwide and formed the foundation of the Head Start program.
David fell in love with music early and hard, drawn to blues and jazz. In the early 1970s, after returning to Chicago from studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Bloom was playing nightclubs and supplementing his modest income by teaching music. It was during this time that he got what would prove to be one of his best ideas.
“I was thinking that the connection in the classroom was more intense and rewarding than what I was experiencing on the stages of most local clubs,” he says.
He scraped together enough dough to open the David Bloom School of Jazz on the sixth floor of the Pakula Building at 218 S. Wabash Ave. The school is thriving as it celebrates its 30th birthday.
Bloom’s latest idea is this: free music lessons in exchange for handguns.
“I have already had discussions with the Chicago Police Department and hope to be able to launch the program by spring,” he says.
There are, of course, many details that need to be worked out before that can happen. “And I want to make it clear to people that learning to play is not easy,” he says. “But I guarantee if the people listen to me and practice, I could have them up on a stage in six months. Think about it: a battle of the bands instead of a battle of the gangs.”
Don’t need to think about it: It’s a great idea.
