SKF NOTE: Friday morning my car was alive with sounds of music.

Listening in my VW Golf Sportwagen, enroute to pick up my grandson, and listening to guitarist Kenny Burrell’s “God Bless the Child” album on the CTI label.

This is a wonderful album with superb musicians including Freddie Hubbard (trumplet), Billy Cobham (drums), Ron Carter (bass), arrangements by Don Sebesky, and percussion by Ray Barretto and Airto Moreira.

Among the album tracks are some pretty ballads: “A Child is Born,” “God Bless the Child,” and “Ballad of the Sad Young Men.” For no apparent reason, this morning I was mostly listening to the percussion instruments. Cobham’s drumset playing, yes. But listening moreso to Moreira and Barretto.

This Burrell album was recorded and released in 1971. On some tunes, I found myself analyzing the percussionists, wondering, if this session took place today, 54 years after the original session, if the producer would allow these percussion sounds on the master tracks. Might those sounds be left out? Or maybe mixed more in the background?

My mindless questioning. I was mostly having fun listeing to the percussionists, picturing the percussion instruments, and imagining how the percussionist (probably Airto) looked while making the sounds I was hearing.

During one song – I forget which – I was driving immersed in a percussion wonderland. Really good.

But when the song ended, I discovered my right blinker clicking had been on the whole time, part of the percussion mix!

Again, driving home with my grandson in the car, listening to Burrell’s music and percussionists, I thought the use of a police whistle was an interesting choice for a ballad. But, it worked. Sort of.”

The next time I heard the whistle I looked at my grandson playing a game on his iPad.

“Is that police whistle part of this music? Or is it part of your game?” I asked.

“It’s part of my game.”