"The Music Never Ends"

Ah, Benny Golson. lovely words . . .

Okay, Days 2 and 3 of the 2007 RIJF were a mix; and, of course, best laid plans . . . That's one thing about the Jazz Fest, sometimes your plans go awry and it's a bummer; sometimes your plans go awry and it's a blessing! So Saturday night was supposed to be Stephane Wrembel, Ryan Shaw, Los Lonely Boys and Randy Brecker. What it turned out to be was most of Cornelio Tutu (he was good and worth seeing, but nowhere near the level of Jonathan Kresiberg of the night before); one song of the Mambo Kings: a horrific 45 seconds of the Shuffle Demons (yes, I've heard they've got talent, but all I heard was screaming): and an hour-and-a-half wait in line to see Randy Brecker( Randy Brecker Quintet including his wife Ada Rovatti on saxophone, Steve Johns on drums, Steve La Spina on bass, David Kokoski on piano and Brecker on trumpet). That I missed Ryan Shaw was a bummer (especially after hearing a musician tell us how awesome Ryan Shaw's pipes were), BUT missing Randy Brecker would have been a huge mistake. As my friend, (a fiendishly great guitar player, himself) said, "That piano player is off the hook." Brecker was great, but entertainment-wise, Kokoski stole the show.

Would have loved to have joined Greg Bell (Rochester@Jazz) at the Crowne Plaza, but I'd been up and going (I was Maid-of-Honor in a wedding) since 6:00am and practically asleep in the car on the way home.

Day 3 didn't go exactly as planned, either. We were going to see Lalo, but got there too late, so we saw some of Revision. They were entertaining and "had a nice groove" as my friend said. Then we wandered up to Jazz street, availed ourselves of some goodies from Java's and then headed to the Harro East with some trepidation over the reports we'd heard of the sound system problems. But we wanted to see Benny Golson. And I'm so glad we did. The place was packed, and the sound system problems seemed to have been worked out. It's still a cavernous, acoustically challenging venue, but at least last night there were sound guys working the mixing tables and checking things, etc.

Benny Golson was wonderful. He had a story before every song. He opened with words about how music is the one thing that goes on forever. No musician ever stops learning. "The music never ends" is what he said. He also remarked that Hank Jones said that music was like the horizon--it just went on forever. When Golson talked about the first time he met his friend John (when Golson was 16 and John was 18), he was talking about Coltrane. How cool that was. He talked about a time they were ditched from a gig and his wise mother consoled both of them with a hug and some words about how someday, those guys (who ditched them) wouldn't be able to afford to pay Golson and Coltrane to play with them, and those guys would still be playing for $8 a gig. Mama always knows.

There was something about this man--I guess it was that his playing was as sweet and soulful as the best I've heard. Whatever it was, he brought me to tears a couple of times. I'm so glad I got the chance to see him.

Tonight, Eldar, with my son. Heard he was off the hook, too. I'll let you know.

yours in music and sleep deprivation,
Tracy