Music from the past with a modern jazzy twist made me tap my foot. I saw heads moving in time to the music. My thoughts went to a friend of mine who passed away about fifteen years ago. He was an aficionado of big band sounds and jazz. Many times we traveled around town to listen to bands like the Woody Herman Band, Les Brown, Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, Artie Shaw, Duke Ellington, Jimmy & Tommy Dorsey plus many others. We would go to jazz jam sessions around town and he knew many of the of the musicians. Central City, before it became a gambling town, would have jazz festivals and we would show up to dance and to listen.
Last evening he was in my thoughts and I knew he would have been present at the West Coast jazz music show. He would have explained who and why certain notes were played. He would have told me stories about the different instruments. He would have educated me on jazz! He was my ball room dancer and I found myself missing him. Strange after so many years, he was very vivid in my thoughts and in my heart!
The saxophone is my favorite instrument and there were at least five in the band. Trumpets, trombones, along with the piano, guitar, bass and drums were fun to listen to, especially if I happened to recognize the tune. The young lady who sang had a good voice and she sang four songs including one that Ella Fitzgerald used to sing. My favorite tune of the evening was Malagueña with the Latin beat.
This was a West Coast type jazz and I will now need to attend the East Coast concert on January 20, 2018 to find out how it differs from what I heard last night.
"It takes an intelligent
ear to listen to Jazz."
Art Blakey
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