...actually we did make the show. I also though Mabern was great. I sat a few feet to the right of his piano and he hits that thing so hard, it shakes the piano!!! I thought Alexander was very good as well, as was Dennis Carroll. I'm not sure if any of you have heard of Dennis, but he is a great bass player; spends most of his time in the Ron Perillo Trio. Although I like Fludas, I think he was a little "heavy handed" at times but I was sitting right in front of him.
I brought photographs for Mabern (with George Coleman), Alexander with his all-star band and Fludas (w/Ray Brown); they seemed to like them. Although I gave Eric a nice black and white photograph, he wanted the color print I was keeping; he asked if he can use it on his web site. He tossed the cover to his new cd at me and said "look at this picture, it's not even in focus ". It's the image of him with the bell of the horn in focus and him out of focus. I laughed and told he that was intentional and that's what we photographers call "artistic freedom" B-) ; he laughed!
I did talk to ejp626 for a few minutes although we didn't sit together as we each had others with us and arrived at different times. Maybe we'll get a chance at another show to sit together and talk jazz! Excellent show overall; glad I didn't miss it!
Next on the list for me is Von Freeman and then Pat Martino!
Mark