Leonie & Nic took us to Ronnie Scott’s last night for our Wedding Gift Mystery Date; we were just told to show up at Fernandez & Wells for a drink and await further instructions (nb: I am becoming a HUGE fan of the Wise Mystery Date).
Bill Cosby opened the doorway to jazz for me: do you remember the episode the Huxtable family performed a number? And the time Lena Horne sang? I first heard Kind of Blue when I met Ash and it has become a staple (‘Someday My Prince Will Come’ was played as we signed the marriage register). But last night was something else. The James Carter Organ Trio were phenomenal. ‘It’s good to be back here and wunnerful to be saturated by your presence’ said the coolest black dude from Detroit, before blowing the roof off with his saxophone.
The randomness of that first number was almost overwhelming, we sat just three feet from the stage of the packed club as they launched this cascade of sound. They were having so much fun, and we wooped and cheered and gave ourselves over to it. They followed up with a quiet, sultry number playing a flute. I closed my eyes and thought about how much jazz is like a conversation, each musician takes a lead to improvise and so there is a random craziness to it; as though the sound could fall off a cliff at any moment. They go somewhere else when they are playing, both in the room and hovering somewhere a thousand miles above us – the look of pure bliss on their faces was infectious and when they come back and the others pick up the beat, its quite magical. Having no idea where the sound is going meant I had to stay in the moment, and just feel where it led me.
It was an unforgettable night.
Comments
You are soooo jazz :) Perfect for you: smart, creative, fun, irrepressible…yup, Jazz Mama. x
I spent many a Melbourne night in my 20s at Bennetts Lane jazz club. (I also lost my heart to at least a couple of jazz muso’s but that’s a story for another time!). *Wistful sigh*
This soooo reminds me of those passages in ‘On the Road’ where they’re in Chicago listening to jazz, trying to capture in words the slippery, divine feeling of music. I love how music can sometimes feel physical. Neko Case describes singing as what it looks like when a cat gets up from a nap and stretches. Sounds like bliss.