Jealousy

I am not the sort of person to gloat or to make people jealous .... however .... I think I am about to.

To John, Michael, Jason, Dr. H and many others ..... I am sorry for bombarding you with texts last night but it was worth it!



Last night I went to see the one and the only (and I really mean that) Oscar Peterson and his Quartet at the BOZAR in Brussels. Wow. Great seats too (thank you my love) 30 foot away, 3rd row and we faced Oscar and his bass player straight on and watched the wonderful musical communication between the two.

The man is 81, had a stroke about 7 years ago leaving it difficult for him to walk, he has Alzheimer's and is genuinly not in the best of health, but put the ledgend behin a piano, add the best form of musical ensemble there is (Bass, Drums and Guitar) and he turns his clock back about 30 years.

It was an amazing spectacle to see him play ..... in fact, just to see him was an event for me as I have been a lover of his playing for many years. OK .... he aint as clear, fast or as methodical as his early days ... and yes there were moments when he veered of the tonal path ... and moments of slippy fingers, but I was so wrapped up in the event that I accepted this as "jazz"!



His bass player David Young was incredible, not only his extremly dexterous playing, but the fact that he really kept everything going. He played literally on top of Oscar, ensuring that if he moved away for the chord sequence (which happened a few times), he would follow the change and nod gentley to his fellow musicians who would then simply slip a gear. He also helped oscar to remind him to wipe his hands before playing, whispering a possible next number but most of all not panicking when Oscar started "Satin Doll" ..... for the second time in the set!

His Alzheimer's was evident in a numbers of area ... the repeating of Satin Doll and one of his Blues compositions which was also played twice; a funny moment when he looked at the set list on his piano and said "I have to choose one of these songs now ....... hmmm .... dont even know that one"; his solos towards the end did repeat a lot of similar phrasings and riffs and he also mention twice the missing DJ of the Bass player (lost in transit) and dedicating numbers to Ray Brown. But this did not detract from the performance of the great man. The emotion shown during performances was very moving. He played "Requium" as a dedication to Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Brown and by the end you could see the tears .... he played from his heart.

Last night was incredible ..... never to be forgotten .... He has quite a schedule ... I hope he makes it.

We will never see him again ..... but last night was such an incredible event, I would not want to spoil the memory of a fantastic night.

Sorry guys ... I know you are Jealous ..... and I can live with that.