Years ago, I was tasked with picking up Frankie Manning from the airport when he came to town for a weekend workshop. I was also told to entertain him that night ... Not a chore! When he was settled into his hotel, I asked him what he would like to do that evening. He asked, Can we go to a club somewhere that has some good jazz that we can just listen to? I happened to know a place. We got there and were seated near the stage. A little quintet playing good, straightahead Jazz. Frankie had a glass of red wine and just listened, bobbing his head and smiling gently. At one point, the band started playing Moonlight in Vermont. Frankie leaned over and said, You know whats funny about this song? No, Frankie, whats that? The lyrics dont rhyme... I thought about that and said, Huh! I never really noticed that before! Frankie smiled again and said, as an afterthought, Yeah, Ella pointed that out to me... How grand to be able to casually namedrop ELLA FITZGERALD. That was quite a night.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Nov 2014 18:49:30 +0000
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