Tonight, I have a feature spot on the Jazz at Lincoln Center Gala - a black tie event. Bill Cosby is appearing and a lot of great musicians. Billy Crystal is the host and he introduces me and my Hot Swing group with Frank Vignola and Gary Mazzaroppi. It is a cool segment where he mentions Stephane Grappelli and the history of Jazz in the 1930s. And then Billy introduces me as Stephanes protégé. Then at the rehearsal yesterday, Billy came up to me and said, we use your piece Butterflys Day Out in my play 700 Sundays. 700 Sundays is an autobiography written by Billy Crystal. The title refers to the number of Sundays shared by Billy and his father, Jack Crystal, who died when Billy was 15. Crystal turned it into a Tony winning one man play that was in New York and toured around the country for several years. Billy told me that he selected Butterflys Day Out for his theater show because it reminded him of great times with his dad growing up in New York. He even holds a mandolin on the segment in his Broadway show. I told him that I was very honored and of course knew of this. I will see him again today during dress rehearsal and then of course the show that streams live at 7:00pm eastern. Butterflys Day Out was named by a young music student at an inner-city camp for under-privileged youths. At OConnors workshop, he performed his new piece on the mandolin and asked for the kids to help him name it. The title, Butterflys Day Out helped OConnor complete his vision for the tune. The whole experience also inspired the idea for OConnor to start his own Fiddle Camp now held annually in Tennessee. sitemason/site/kGwSPe/butterfly.html
Posted on: Thu, 01 May 2014 12:56:22 +0000