Higher Ground Relief Fund concert is on now on PBS

[rostasi]

I remember the days when there were no commercials -

when it was known as "Educational TV."

[skeith]

I thought Herbie Hancock and MCoy Tyner both gave great performances.

For me the most interesting train wreck was Abbey Lincoln. Drunk? HIgh?

Man she came back in several bars before the pianist's solo was over and then kept yelling at her band to lay out.

And what was the white handkerchief about

Edited September 19, 2005 by skeith

[chandra]

Man she came back in several bars before the pianist's solo was over and then kept yelling at her band to lay out.

←

Is that what it is? I thought that is part of her act. *LOL*

I could not make any reasonable opinion on how good she was singing. But I remember one impression I had about her. "Wow, what a personality. She did not give a hoot about all the people there. She just came in, sort of looked at everyone as if she owned that place, just had that look of indifference or confidence, sang, and walked off".

Since the announcer said she is a legend, I thought to myself "Hmmm.. that personality fits that legend status'. May be 'endearing' is the word for that 'personality', her age and the legendary status.

Edited September 19, 2005 by chandra

[7/4]

just had that look of indifference or confidence, sang, and walked off". 

←

I guess it was indifference.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Although she has had that kick-ass attitude for years now, Abbey is getting a little past it, I think. She blew the entrance after the piano solo and then to salvage things she cut out the bass and drums. It was a decent save - but very embarrassing, I mean this is "For All We Know" not any obscure complicated original tune and Marc Cary is her regular pianist, so no excuses there. But her voice is deteriorating. She is 76. Maybe she has better days, but she used to have far more control of things - there were some nasty held notes in there. Her CDs don't show her in such a bad light. It looked to me like her hand was bandaged. No further speculation here.

We need to have a moritorium on the word "legend" - I mean, come on. Wynton Marsalis is a "legend"? No, he's not. He's a trumpet player, very real, very accessible, not some faint memory who only a few people ever got to see live, etc. Robert Johnson - that's a legendary musician.

Mike

[rostasi]

We need to have a moritorium on the word "legend" - I mean, come on. Wynton Marsalis is a "legend"? No, he's not. He's a trumpet player, very real, very accessible, not some faint memory who only a few people ever got to see live, etc. Robert Johnson - that's a legendary musician.

Totally agree.

[7/4]

How's this:

"And now I give to you, a legend in his own lunch time...Wynton Marsalis!"

Edited September 19, 2005 by 7/4

[chandra]

Herbie was fine by me.

←

I listened to it again today at the NPR site http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4837922 .

Herbie's intro few seconds sounded Bach like to me ( before it transitioned into the Jazz sound with the accompaniments ). Did anyone else get that impression?

[PHILLYQ]

With how lost the rest of the pickup trio was, Herbie was better off playing solo.

[Guest youmustbe]

It was no better or worse than similar such presentation by opera, classical, country, or rap benefits. Jazz being improvized, without recognizable 'hit records' will always slightly suffer.

Also, I understand that Blue Note was recording everything, which is why there was so much inbetween oratory.

[Spontooneous]

Didn't see the whole thing, but...

I was most taken with Terence Blanchard's spot.

Wynton acolyte Irvin Mayfield's spot was raw and passionate.

I liked the Marsalis "family" spot with Ted Nash on tenor. Wynton behaved himself on this one.

The Jon Hendricks and Paquito spots were a lot better than OK.

But the Wynton-as-King Oliver spot creeped me out.

Still, the highlight of the evening for me was the speech from Danny Glover and Harry Belafonte.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Ugh - BN is going to shovel money into this? I guess it will look good on their taxes, but I'd have to advise anyone considering buying it to send the purchase price directly to charities.

I'd have to say it was worse than any classical benefit because those players don't get thrown together without being familiar with the repertoire they're going to perform.

Mike

[skeith]

Although she has had that kick-ass attitude for years now, Abbey is getting a little past it, I think. She blew the entrance after the piano solo and then to salvage things she cut out the bass and drums. It was a decent save - but very embarrassing, I mean this is "For All We Know" not any obscure complicated original tune and Marc Cary is her regular pianist, so no excuses there. But her voice is deteriorating. She is 76. Maybe she has better days, but she used to have far more control of things - there were some nasty held notes in there. Her CDs don't show her in such a bad light. It looked to me like her hand was bandaged. No further speculation here.

I should make clear that I am a fan of Abbey and I have seen her a number of times in the 90's. But this performance was a disaster, I don't think it was a decent save and it wasn't fair to blame it on the band, as she was doing. It is one thing to be ahead of the beat, but several bars. It was inexcusable - I hope the reason is that she was under the influence. Because she is an artist I have had a lot of respect for.

I don't think the cloth thing was a bandage, but I am not sure.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

I agree it was a disaster. I agree it was her fault - she was lost. But blame the band? I didn't see that at all. She did a perfectly appropriate thing - she recognized that there was a problem (but likely didn't realize it was her fault at the time). Rather than having four musicians (or two musicians, a singer, and a drummer.....) in different places, having only two involved makes it easier to get things righted. And it did get the job done. If you think that's "blaming the band" - I would like to know what you would expect the *leader* of a quartet to do under the circumstances. You must remember that those musicians are NOT hired so that she can follow them. They follow her - right or wrong.

And I refuse to jump to the conclusion that drugs or alcohol were responsible. The effects of age were apparent to me in other ways.

Mike

[AllenLowe]

just for the record, the more formal passages - eg Fishburne on New Orleans, Burns, and probably even some of Schaap - were scripted -

[Spontooneous]

If I were McCoy Tyner, I'd have tracked down the guy who introduced me and slapped him.