Its Good For The Soul

[QUINNY]

Seeing some live music, but especially putting together a great evening of Jazz.

Last night I was at the world famous Concorde Club, which has obviously been a stalwart on the local and national jazz scene for over 50 years. At the time of this evening's conception, I'd been asked (in my then capacity as chairman of Southampton jazz club) to put together an evening of Jazz as a fundraiser for a well known cancer research charity.

To cut a long story short, there were 3 bands on stage ranging from a small big band (comprising music teachers and some members of Hampshire Youth jazz Orchestra), a quintet featuring three guitarists, bass, drums and finally a quintet featuring multi-reeds, vibes, piano, bass, drums. The vibes player, Roger Beaujolais may be known to some of you through the acid jazz releases by Vibraphonic.

So what was good for the soul?

Firstly: That so many musicians with undeniable talent were prepared to support the effort by either playing absolutely free of charge or at a drastically reduced rate.
Secondly: That they not only did that, but also rose to the occasion and pulled out all the stops
Thirdly: If you've never seen live jazz, I implore you to do so. Whether or not you absolutely get off on the music; to see such incredible musicianship is truly inspiring. Even if the music passes over you, there's still the thrill of catching the nuances of performance and in the case of jazz, probably more than any other music, the virtuosity, flare, blood, spit, guts and all. It's one of the few musics with true bravado and compelling comeradery still intact in most performances. Theses guys don't go through the motions and they really get off on each other's playing.
Fourthly: Where else do you get to chat to the performers beforehand over a drink, throw them together for the first time without any rehearsal whatsoever and obtain such amazing results?

Like I said......It's Good For the Soul.