But am I glad I did! Now, where the Museum of National History was an example of a place not to hold a jazz concert, I think that Ms. Eliot’s parlor would be an example of the perfect place for what transpired this evening. It was a group of old friends and family, who happened to be excellent musicians, coming together for the love of music. We happened to be the people privileged enough to sit in on this almost spiritual experience.
The musicians – a pianist, bass player, alto and tenor saxophone player, and for the final song, trumpet player - played a selection of standards, many of which I had heard before. They didn’t do anything too novel or exciting - all the pieces were performed in a similar style, but what was exciting was just to be there in Ms. Eliot’s apartment, and experiencing the music in such a special way. I did wonder why the bass player had such a fondness for arco playing during his solos.
From Harlem, it was on to 93rd and Broadway for yet another jam session hosted by Toru Dodo. Dinner was excellent, but we were kind of far away to be able to fully appreciate what was happening up front. When half of the group left, I asked the waiter if we could move up to the front; we did. It was a lot of fun to hear all the talented musicians play; it blows my mind to think about the pool of talent that exists in the Big Apple, especially since they seemed to all be Japanese!
Now, I have nothing against the Japanese, but I did wonder why there happened to be so many Japanese musicians – all of them very good, incidentally – in one place at the same time. After asking around, I found out that the tenor saxophone player was actually leaving the US to return home to Japan, after 6 years, he said. So all these talented Japanese musicians who live in New York – some performing in hotels, others in various performance spaces – congregated at Cleopatra’s Needle to bid farewell to their colleague. It was touching – especially at the end when a pianist and bassist broke out into parts of “Auld Lang Syne”.
Sitting in on the jam session sharpened my listening abilities. Initially, I was just wowed by the sheer talent and skill of the musicians. After listening to a few more players, I began to pick apart and decide where each player’s strengths lay. I started noticing how each musician structured his or her solo differently than the other. For example, Dodo had an almost classical virtuosic flair to his solos with flawless and fluid runs; the lady who played after him played horn-like solos with her right hand, but stopped comping in her left; the other man who played after her had an inclination towards full-chord solos.
But the highlight of the night was definitely the final configuration of musicians, in particular the drummer, who played a fine rendition of “Blues After All”. He was probably the youngest musician that night, making his debut playing on Broadway in the Big Apple (although he says he is a “small worm in the Big Apple”), and he was probably the only left-handed drummer that night.
Yup, on December 4, 2006 at 12:45 in the morning, Peter Errki Jones made his debut performance at Cleopatra’s Needle in New York City!
No comments:
Post a Comment