What a great show! It was in this beautiful 500 seat auditorium. First,
Branford came on stage and gave a fifteen minute talk on the history of
jazz. He's one of the funniest people I've ever heard speak. He mentioned
that he thought Ken Burns was right to leave out the last thirty years in
his documentary. He referred to something that Keith Jarrett wrote to the
New York Times, criticizing the documentary and said that that was fine that
if Keith wanted to come up with thirty million dollars and do his own
documentary then more power to him, other wise he should "shut the hell up!"
He talked about living in Lousiana, listening to a lot of funk and r&b, and
not really getting seriously into jazz until he was 19. He also mentioned
the grammies, how he's been nominated for a grammy several times but has
never received one for jazz(twice for other genres) but that that doesn't
matter too much because those people are not his peers. And he doesn't have
much use for Emimem.
The music was beautiful. The song I like the most was called "Requiem"
which he wrote for his keyboard player who died recently. He did three
other pieces and played for around an hour or so. I can't really describe
it except that it was really, really good jazz.
I like being at the Coca Cola building cause you can walk in the lobby and
go to the coke machines and they are all free. And Paz, Branford said to
say hello to you and he was wondering how you were doing. He agreed with me
that you are a really cool cat.
Victor
NP: Grateful Dead "Playing in the Band"
Victor Johnson
http://www.cdbaby.com/victorjohnson
"Just beyond the morning falls the river of your dreams,
Escaping from the day these wild creatures run away."
Victor Johnson
