Rehearsal Day in Toronto

Hey you guys—What a wonderful pre-concert day in Toronto. Wish you were here. Ross Porter at JAZZ.FM 91 asked me what I like about Toronto and I replied, “You guys are so alive that you hummmmmmm.” Ross and I had a wonderful pre-concert chat about the 10 songs I would like to bring with me on a desert island. I gave him this list:

1. A Remark You Made Weather Report
2. Gymnopedies Erik Satie
3. The Sicillienne Fauré
4. Bitches Brew Miles Davis
5. Le Soir A Paris Double Six of Paris
6. Love’s In Need of Love Today Stevie Wonder
7. New World Symphony Dvořák
8. Cloudburst Jon Hendricks
9. Cactus Tree Joni Mitchell
10. Like A Lover Al Jarreau

When he played a little bit of The Double Six of Paris, a French Vocal group, doing Quincy’s Le Soir A Paris with Mimi Perrin’s lyric and lead vocal, I quietly broke down and cried… Immediately transported back to the library at Ripon College in 1961, missing class and listening to music that changed my life and locked me into this musical direction that we call Al Jarreau… Lyrics to jazzy songs and solos, importantly inspired by Jon Hendricks, and Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, who was certainly the main influence on Double Six. And yes, incidentally, I have become good friends with Mimi over the past twenty years. She passed away last November.

I enjoyed the sights of the city on the way to and from a rehearsal with an All-Star house band/quintet—First time. I’m hoping for as beautiful a day tomorrow as it was today. We’re on stage at 8 o’clock.