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Clearwater Jazz Festival


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I figured this post-festival report needed a new thread ...

I am very pleased to report that Organissimo knocked the Clearwater Jazz Festival on its collective ass!

I was able to attend mostly because a close friend recently moved to St. Petersburg, affording me a place to crash. He's not a jazz fan but believe me, by the time the set was over and we headed to the CD Purchase/Autograph booth, he was pulling out his wallet so that I could get a signed CD and I could give him my old copy of "Waiting for the Sisters" :)

I managed to attract Jim's attention during set-up so we had a moment to introduce ourselves before the show, and when I saw the "tropical" shirt Jim had picked for the gig, I had to tell him I was going to have to give him some shit over that .... but then the band hit, and the only thing I could say about the shirt afterwards was:

The crowd was even louder than Jim's shirt, and that's saying something!

Many highlights-too many to list, but Ron Blake on tenor was fabulous (though the first tune was marred by his tenor mike not being turned on, we were close enough to realize that what we could hear was actually coming through *over* the speakers, not through them. :angry: ) The best tune (and biggest surprise) featured Jim on vocals on the Ray Charles classic "I'm A Fool For You". This really knocked out the people near us-there was a large African American family, bobbing their heads and just lapping it up, and when Jim started testifying, it was like a Pentacostal church-"Say it!" :g (Oh, and by the way, Joe told me afterwards that Jim added the tune to their setlist just a week earlier!!)

A nice-sized crowd awaited the guys at the autograph/CD tent, including one older man-probably mid-50s, who said that he loved "Jimmy Smith Goes To Washington" and that he hadn't heard organ like that since he heard Smith in his heyday.

And then things really got enjoyable when I got a chance to chat with Joe and Randy, two of the finest, friendliest sorts you'll ever meet, and after a picture was taken of me with all four musicians, Jim got a hold of one of the festival poo-bahs and landed hospitality badges for us so that we got to hang backstage, enjoying the free food and great company of these superlative individuals. And it may not be over yet, as the boys are currently planning to stay through today (Sunday) to catch Eric Alexander/David Hazeltine and then Herbie's Trio, so hopefully we will hook up again and hang out some more.

Jim had loads of pictures taken so hopefully sometime next week you'll see many of them right here.

And hopefully this great opportunity and tremendous performance will help these guys break through and get the attention and success they deserve so much.

Great show, guys, and I'm damn glad I met ya! B)

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Don't forget Chicago!

Hey, was the performance taped? Hopefully you guys were able to get something off the board. Sounds like there were some chesnuts performed that would be good for the inevitable "Organissimo Career Retrospective Boxset"!

Thanks for the report Dan.

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It was great to meet you as well, Dan! Sorry we didn't hook up on Sunday. I tried Mike's number, but I must've typed it in wrong into my phone as I kept getting some strange older woman! :blink:

Anyway, we didn't get to meet Herbie. He was pretty elusive and surrounded by security. I did get to meet Eric Alexander, although just for a split second. He and the rest of the band pretty much hid in their trailor the whole time... I was sort of bummed. I wanted to pick Hazeltine's brain.

I did get to meet Terri Lynn Carrington after Herbie's show, which was an honor. She is AMAZING!!!! One word summation for her: ferocious!!!!

The other cool person we met Sunday was Chick Corea. He lives in Clearwater and came down to see Herbie. The festival head-honcho introduced Joe and I and Chick was very nice. I gave him a copy of the CD and we talked about software synths and such!

Again, sorry we didn't get to hang. But Saturday night was the best gig I've done yet and chillin' with you and Mike and the boyz afterwards was just icing on the cake!!!! I'm glad we got to meet face to face!

Oh, and thanks for the kind write-up! :wub:

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Well, Jim, that was too bad with the phone number screw-up, but its cool that you got to meet Chick, Terri Lynn and Eric as well. Maybe when you reach that level of being headliners, you tend to avoid the crush of people who want to meet and greet. Celebrity's a bitch, and may you soon have it! :)

I hate to admit it, but Mike had such an early start on Monday that we had to boogie after the Hazeltine-Alexander set so we couldn't stay for Herbie. Did he go all accoustic or did he have the big set of keyboards? And what did you guys think of Eric? Is Sangrey right? ;)

Looking forward to seeing the pics up here. B)

Edited by Dan Gould
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Well, Jim, that was too bad with the phone number screw-up, but its cool that you got to meet Chick, Terri Lynn and Eric as well. Maybe when you reach that level of being headliners, you tend to avoid the crush of people who want to meet and greet. Celebrity's a bitch, and may you soon have it! :)

I hate to admit it, but Mike had such an early start on Monday that we had to boogie after the Hazeltine-Alexander set so we couldn't stay for Herbie. Did he go all accoustic or did he have the big set of keyboards? And what did you guys think of Eric? Is Sangrey right? ;)

Looking forward to seeing the pics up here. B)

Dan,

Thanks again for coming out to the festival and hangin' with us.. To answer your question about Herbie's set, he played only that Steinway grand.. It was a great set and I was especially impressed with Terry Lynne Carrington's performance..

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Sounds like you guys really blew them away!!! :tup:D Hope great things come of it. Ya'll deserve it. Picked up the new Ron Blake CD and have really been enjoying it. Wondered when you did the gig if you did any material from it, or if he was just a special guest on your set.

Wish we could hear and see it. Maybe some pics up on the site with a few MP3s??? :w

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Sara's Dance is on Ron's cd, and we intended to do one other, but ran out of time.

Re: Eric Alexander, I can't say if Sangrey's right, because I'm not that well versed in George Coleman's playing to recognize if someone else is playing his stuff. But I can say that Eric tore it up. They did a really cool version of Naima that had a straight 8 feel, and Eric's solo was a monster. Great band.

Herbie's set blew me away too. Carrington is awesome, and Scott Colley turned in a great performance as well. I was also impressed with the Saturday's lineup, especially John Cleary's band. Slammin' New Orleans funk. And Lizz Wright has one powerful voice. I expect good things from her in the future.

Look for pics from the festival coming soon. :g

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