Category : diary

Schaan, Lichtenstein 7/5/14

Sometimes the moments and situations mix and tumble together and details get lost. This typically happens later in the tour when you’ve been in city after city and had bus ride after bus ride. So I’m surprised to feel it happening so early on tour. Maybe it’s because some recent appearances at home are actually, in fact, part of the bigger picture and jig saw puzzle.

Anyway, any artist should be really pleased at being able to visit a far away strange sounding location called Lichtenstein. If you look it up, you’ll find it to be smaller than Los Angeles. It’s population is a drop in the bucket by comparison. But they walk and talk and have homes and cars and children and dreams of a good health and a good life. And these guys as a nation have refused to take part in war. I hope you’re getting a sense of how satisfying it is to find an audience here and be invited to perform.

Maybe I’ve played Lichtenstein one other time. Certainly not more than twice. And so to be welcomed as though we were frequent visitors was quite remarkable. And when I addressed them as Schaan and Schaan-ettes, there was an audible chuckle.

We’re still tiptoeing and picking our way through our new program but it’s working even at this early moment. People from Chicago, Atlanta, and Houston would be real surprised to see this audience over here respond to “PARTY”. With deep bows and big thanks in German…danke…we jump on the bus and head off to Saarbrucken.

But you should have seen their wide eyes glow when I sang a little bit of the Lichtensteiner polka.

Thanks again, y’all. Until next time…

Love,
Al

Share :

Vienna 2014

On the way from the airport to the hotel I always marvel at the fact that I forgot about a pretty big section of unsightly refineries. Huge tanks and pipes and derricks for a longtime it seems. All of it soon forgotten when you start to see those classic center city cream colored stately structures that are sometimes government buildings and museums and other times wonderful apartment buildings with artistic glass awnings. The same architect must have designed lots of buildings in Paris. It’s fabulous, gorgeous, and makes you shake your head…wow! Once again I find myself saying, “Man, I’m just a little kid from Milwaukee and I’m gonna play the Opera House.” Somebody would say, “well of course!” and remind me of my name. They don’t get it.

A lot of nerves tonight. We’re going to do a lot of new material that we’ll rehearse for a squeezed in two hours. If we weren’t already a very well rehearsed group with lots of stage time together we would never attempt this. But we’ve decided to push the envelope and our luck because we desperately like to stay fresh. It’s part of ANY appeal that we may have…changed the material and changed the arrangements, too. Sometimes big festivals like this do the uncomfortable approach of playing five or six acts on both Saturday and Sunday of a two-day event all on the same stage. That’s exhausting. By the time the headliner goes on, people are numb. We played the beautiful Opera House with no opening act and a full house. They we’re so close that I could smell their perfume and sweat on their blue suede shows. I told them so. I also told them that they have been so loyal. We’ve been doing this a long, long time. These days they even invite me in as a guest at special occasions, such as “Life Ball” and awards and other ceremonies. And this time I made a guest appearance at a fundraiser for the Girl Effect, assisting endangered teens in Ethiopia.

The band was on point that night and people leaned over the railings in four tiers of balconies that came all the way around to both edges of the stage. Maria Callas and Pavarotti played here. Yoyo and Streisand, too. I’ll bet the crowd screamed as loud for us as they did for them. When it’s good here, it’s great.

Erich “Jazz Car” Zawinul, our excellent friend, and son of Joe Zawinul, brought his warm heart and smile backstage and a couple of friends, too.

It’s unusually special and so good when reporters come to a show, stay all night, and ask for an interview. There were two of them. Lots of autographs at the back door along with a deep breath and sigh and a grateful “this was good…no, this was great.”

The night air was perfectly cool and those famous pillars brought it all home to me again about what had just happened.

Thank you, and until next time…

Al

Share :

Europe Tour 2014 – Off We Go!

Jump down, turn around, wink your eye, and wiggle your nose. Hear we are in Vienna starting another European Summer Tour. Not much to say at the moment. I just wanted to mention it to you and feel your good wishes in the same way that I do when you always send them to me. God bless us everyone and Tiny Tim, too.

See you soon!

Love,
Al

Share :

DC/Maryland/Merriweather Post – Capital Jazz Festival and the Hollywood Bowl – Playboy Jazz Festival

I said “My GAWD! This is amazing, y’all.” Capital Jazz used to happen in a little downtown park in Washington DC. We need to raise a flag and hail this as one of the rarest “Jazz spurts” moments on the planet. Being at Merriweather Post at all is amazing! We drove past a whole section of camping tents with people lounging on lawn chairs with ice chests and coolers of food and drink, and would you believe booths of arts and crafts and multiple venues of performers. This is the long lost tradition of the music festival usually confined to more recent pop fests. The traditional jazz festival has had its fair share of occasions like this. You gotta pray for more!

We walked on with our big George Duke celebration Tribute Band, but just before us, Rick Braun and Dianne Reeves made Fourth of July fireworks on the 7th of June. It was truly “ON” when we hit the stage with Marcus Miller, Byron Miller, Greg Phillinganes, Paul Jackson, Little John Roberts, John Beasley, Josie James, Jeffrey Osborne, Phil Perry, and Dianne Reeves and Stanley Clarke. We really punched their ticket good. I know they were satisfied and exhausted. I’m exhausted just saying all of the names that appeared that day to do music. When we closed with George Duke’s “Reach for It” it was pandemonium bonkers.

I almost forgot to mention the George Duke Tribute Album! The week flew by and suddenly we were at the Hollywood Bowl doing the closing set at the Playboy Jazz Festival hosted by George Lopez. He was warm, funny, and enthusiastic. One year ago George Duke himself played this same slot at the Playboy Fest.

The Hollywood Bowl always becomes a planet unto itself on whatever occasion it hosts. This occasion was a great coming together of icons—the Bowl and Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Jazz Festival! The Playboy Jazz Festival dates back to 1959 in Chicago, where Hugh Hefner had been a jazzer since the 50s. The first issue of Playboy featured an interview with Miles Davis…just the beginning. There were countless issues with articles about groups and personalities from the jazz world, jazz being recognized by many as America’s preeminent art form that spawned rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and even John Lennon singing “here come ol’ flattop, he come groovin’ up slowly”…Come Together! Now that’s a legacy. Well I guess that’s three legacies.

Anyway, with a mention of Rashid and John Duke, George’s sons, and Corine, his wife, we did our second tribute to George in seven days. One of the most beautiful moments of the evening is right there in the middle when a photo of George’s big smile is shown and the audience hears him sing “Missing You” with its oh so touching spoken introduction. Man oh man oh man oh man…George could write. Melodies set in chord changes, which moved your emotions with lyrics to match.

The evening flew by with not enough time to say all that we wanted to say. We’ll probably always feel this way about doing a proper tribute to George.

The audience rocked so hard and grooved so well when Ndugudu and Josie funked the Bowl with “Reach for It”. They were there when that song was born and tonight’s version was hip bumping and soul satisfying for 18,000 people.

I couldn’t see him but I know Stanley Clarke was grinning again when Josie sang “Sweet Baby”, co-written by George and Stanley and the biggest hit that either ever had. Having Dianne Reeves on both the record and at these tributes along with Stanley has been so wonderfully warm and perfectly thrilling in a “who could ask for more” fashion. Susan, Ryan, and Jen (Ryan’s fiancé) were there and squealed about how fiery and funky the music was, even me. Ryan loved Stanley “tearin’ that bass up”.

So many hellos and well wishes…too many to mention here! Hi, Andy Garcia (what a body of work). He grinned as Arturo Sandoval and I sang Charlie Parker’s version of “Groovin’ High” in the dressing room doorway. What a precious moment; one for the ages.

And so was the whole night.

At one moment or another, we’ve all looked at each other and said, “we have to do this again.” And so I’ll say it again…this is not enough…we will do this again. Thank you Capital Jazz and Playboy Jazz Festival, and all of the staff and crew involved. Hope to see you soon!

Love,
Al

Share :

Chastain Park, Atlanta, GA with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Chastain Park!! Whatever happens at Chastain Park takes on a fanciful wonderland kind of aura. This is an outdoor venue that features a section right down in front of an audience seated at white tables who bring their own dinner and drinks. They create their own dining and listening experience with every food you can image, not to mention lots of wine in long stem glasses. One of the most important periods in my life was this very situation in what was called a supper club. I cut my teeth on this learning how to talk to and relate to people out there, sharing a comment about the music or an interesting and funny story. This is the real deal for me that is “make it some kind of party”. Let’s have fun! The Carnegie Hall situation’s formality is too formal.

So doing it here with Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and MARCUS MILLER, too, was outstanding, boys and girls. Marcus took them to a very special place in his musical universe and then I did the same. Strings and oboes and French horns and a harp accompanied both of us. This changes everything for the listener. When you hear me with strings, it’s different. That’s why the Al and the Metropole Orkest Album is a thing on its own. There were a lot of familiar songs but in a new setting.

When you take all of that and put it outside under the stars with a nice glass of wine, you get something special. When Marcus and I joined forces for a fiery version of “Mais Que Nada”, there was a lot of singing along and even a couple of samba dancers, like Brazil. Great night! Lots of laughing, smiling, and grinning and satisfied tummy patting…Ahhhh!

Thank you Atlanta…metropolis of the future. You are leading the way, especially showing how diversity is ok. Don’t stop! I won’t go there just now, that’s a whole other show.

See ya!

Love,
Al

Share :

Honolulu, Hawaii

All this business of talking about Hawaii is very unusual indeed. Here’s yet another instance of a very cosmopolitan/international community that I feel I have conspicuously missed. I would be much happier if I could say that I’ve been to this 50th state in America only half as many times as I’ve been to Paris or Rome or Berlin. That’s not good. What an oversight. It is with real delight that I’m talking about Maui and Honolulu these days and I’m hoping that this is a start of more frequent visits.

The Convention Center is a big sprawling place where you can get lost. Somewhere here there’s a room that will hold 15,000 people. We will perform in one of the smaller ballrooms and will be quite contented with a way smaller turnout.

What’s particularly sweet about this return is that the last time I played here it was with The Honolulu Symphony Orchestra conducted by Matt Catingub. This time 15 years later, Matt has branched out even farther and is one of the principle organizers is a group called Hawaii Pops. This new organization is just about one year old and as the name implies, they are doing more than orchestra dates. Matt plays jazz keyboards and sax and leads his own jazz band ala Basie Ellington and Stan Kenton. They opened the show that night.

Larry Williams and I were swamped and ambushed by old friends who cheered and clapped for everything. Larry’s home base group as you know is Seawind. If you don’t know, look them up and listen and get your wig washed. They quietly became one of the most important jazz/pop/R&B bands of the late 70s and 80s. Their horn section was essential in Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson music. Their home base was Hawaii and the locals here know them well. For me there are people that go back to the 60s with George Duke in San Francisco. As warm and comfortable as all of the above seems, it is at the same time a bit anxious as you surely want to do your best in front of old friends and colleagues.

Matt and his band did a very fun and enjoyable big band “hop, skip, and a jump” through some familiar standards with a very appreciative audience applauding at every opportunity. I can’t tell you how reassuring that is…to here people so readily appreciating this tried and true but rarely played genre. Matt was a delightful bandleader. Funny. Witty. And he sang well too.

Aloha means not only “hello” but also “welcome”, “warm regards”, “good to see you again”, and “greetings to God inside of you”. We felt that everywhere, even hotel and convention center staff…and for sure this audience tonight. I took special enjoyment from watching people on their feet and dancing. Dancing! People dancing has a magical effect on everyone and everything. It re-inspires the players. Our “du-op” at the end of the evening always gets the jaw dropped and a huge grin. That’s a great memory for me as I sit here already anticipating a new frequency of visits to the island paradise of Hawaii.

Love,
Al

Share :