Zen and the art of jazz performance (music, travels)
by at 12:38 AM
Tonight, I went with a large subset of the Spud-centric Seattle gang to see a well-known saxophonist (Lonnie Williams - you'd never think he was fairly well-known in certain circles for how little there is about him online... hell, the venue he was at doesn't even list him on the events page, wtf?) who's been a friend-of-a-friend-of-Spud for years, as well as his ensemble. While I was chatting with friends, Lonnie came over to say hi and basically do a pre-show meet-and-greet (though he specifically knew most of the people at the table).
He asked me if I played keys, and I said, "A little," and he said, "Why don't you come up on stage later and play with us?" I thought he was joking and said, "Sure!"
And towards the end of the set, he started to gesture at me, and I was all, "Really?" and he was all, "Really!" and I went up on stage and jammed. And apparently I did good!
This isn't even an isolated incident. I guess something about me says, "This person is willing to improvise." (Though this was the first time it didn't involve freejazz, and didn't involve me even being remotely prepared for it.)
Comments