In a message dated 1/17/01 3:21:38 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: >Congratulations on the fantastic news, Fred! What a huge achievement! >You really gotta do New Orleans (and L.A., too, ) one of these days. Thanks so much, Kakki, for your good wishes and good cheer. I'm admittedly lame about making gigs happen (I was born a musician, not an agent), but the minute my phone rings with someone asking me to come to N.O. or L.A. or just about anywhere, logistics willing, I'll be there. >Re Ed Peterson - isn't he also connected with Kurt Elling? Ed is very connected to Kurt, in fact, he was partly responsible for giving Kurt his start. I remember vividly playing a gig with Ed at the Green Mill one night many years ago and this guy comes up to sing with the band. He sang like a wild man, very raw and unformed but he had a thing. I asked Ed who he was and Ed said, "Oh, that's Kurt Elling; he sits in with us from time to time." Kurt worked up some lyrics to some of Ed's tunes, at a couple of which he's recorded, even titling an album, "The Messenger," for one of Ed's tunes (Ed also played on Kurt's recent "Live in Chicago" and at least one of Kurt's others). Later Kurt and I worked together (in fact, a collaboration may appear on his next record) and, as I've told here before, I helped hook Kurt up with my manager who got him to Blue Note Records. Ed, like Kurt, is a true original ... I mean, how can you not be intrigued by someone who titles a tune "Storyteller Experiencing Total Confusion." As a side note, Ed appears on one tune on my Windham Hill album, "Usually/Always." -Fred Simon
