Something to take the edge off after that hefty bout of fangirling Wednesday.
Possibly my favorite jazz pianist:
In this one below, I love how Bill Evans closed his eyes while he was playing. Classic Bill Evans. Check out the bass player Red Mitchell too. It’s the best way to play. Notes are something to be felt, and sometimes embracing the instrument really is almost like falling onto it, yet it cradles you.
Another one:
This is the stuff of my childhood. My dad was a bass player (both bass violin and bass guitar). 40+ years of playing gigs, and it wasn’t uncommon for my mother and me to go with him. I literally spent my youth in places like Village Vanguard. It took growing up to realize most kids are not hanging at jazz joints when they’re ten. These are just some of the things I finally got freed up enough to write about.
Oh heck, one more and with Bill explaining a little of the trio the first couple of minutes or so:
I’m not sure if this post should get the Richard Armitage tag. My CWS must be on the wane, ’cause I don’t have a good sense if this is his thing or not. :D Okay, yeah, he’s cool enough to like it. ;-)
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RAFrenzy 
Fabulous choices, my friend. THAT is music. Coincidentally, I just posted an entry in my blog called “What Music Means to Me”. I hope you read it and leave a comment. As always, it’s a joy to follow your blog. Thanks for the videos, and have a terrific day!
Just read it! Agreed on many points. Music, the greatest diplomat. :D
I hope you have a great day too! I’m off to drive the high school volley ball girls to a tournament. They like to sing as much as the middle school girls.
Oscar Peterson!!!!
Excellent! I got to see him live. Post coming on him. :D
My fave pianist is a constant mental argument between John Hicks and Kirk Lightsey. I spent entirely too many nights at the Vanguard myself and somehow our affinity solidifies in my head and I wonder if we’v actually met in another life!
When or if I get to your neck of the woods, we will have to meet for real. :D
That’d be fun! I’ve had great experiences with meeting some of my virtual friends over the years. I wish I could say,
“And we’ll end the night at Bradley’s!” but it is gone.
What do you think is a good alternative to Bradley’s?
BTW, a good friend of mine toured with the Herd in the last 60s/early 70s and I think knew Hicks.
I am not at all sure what would be a good alternative because I stopped hanging out shortly after that. The Vanguard is still there as is the Blue Note (expensive, dark and cramped as always). There is a new place uptown, but the Village is not the jazzy joint it used to be.
I usually try to make The Blue Note, I’ve never been to The Vanguard. There is another place I’ve really enjoyed, but I”m going blank on the name. Have to look it up.
You’ve never been to the Vanguard, as an adult? I actually miss the Village Gate. That place was fun. Sweet Basil is gone too. All my old hangouts are nothing but a memory now. And the one or two left are place where great atrocities took place and maybe I shouldn’t show my face there :D