Thing is, Wy, no one else was helping out and I knew I could transcribe the patterns on a drum machine, which I felt would be helpful for the guy ... and it was. As a pro, you could have been more helpful than just telling me to "bugger off".
Ok, I had things to say apart from "yes oh guru". So shoot me (oh, I forgot, you did).
You told us that Frank Sinatra's story was a pivotal event in regard to the importance of vocals in music - very enlightening, as is often the case when you're not shooting people. However, in opera, the castrati and, later, prima donnas were celebrated way before Frank was born. Why??
There's an obvious psychological component to the popularity of vocals ... and I have a bunch of A levels in psychology. Is that worth nothing? A baby in the womb is exposed to the resonance of its mother's voice from the moment it develops functional ears, at about 16 weeks (proto ears from 3 weeks). Yet scat singing isn't as popular as musical storytelling,
stories that resonate with our lives. That's another aspect again ...
If the discussion only covered music theory or history then, yes, you earned it. However, that particular topic was very broad with a sizeable extramusical component.
I have sat at the feet of the guru as he passed on his knowledge to me, and accepted that knowledge unquestioningly 99% of the time. Forgive me - a mere unworthy amateur - if I dare to have some thoughts of my own 1% of the time ...