King Creole
Best jazz concert ever...?
If you had the chance to use a 'time machine' what would be the three jazz concerts you wanted to see?
My picks:
1. Any small band concert with Bix Beiderbecke in 1927
2. King Oliver & His Creole Jazz Band (with Louis Armstrong) in 1923
3. Any concert of Billie Holiday in Harlem in 1935
Easy 10 points!
What are your 3 picks?
I'm going to take a little liberty with your question, hope you don't mind.
I would go to Cornell University in March of 1964 to see the Charles Mingus Sextet. I would sit on the side of the stage closest to Eric Dolphy and Jaki Byard.
After the show, I would stow away in their equipment trailer and get sent over seas so that I could be at every show of the European tour.
Oh yeah, knowing today that Dolphy would die soon after the tour, I would learn how to give him the medical care that was needed to save his life before traveling in time. Then when I travel back in time, I would give him the medical attention needed to save him. I would only ask for payment in the form of him performing for my birthday party. (I wish I could).
I would have also spent November 2,3,4 and 6th, of 1961 at the Village Vanguard to see John Coltrane's band.
I would also go to the Vanguard on June 25, 1961 to see Bill Evans play with his trio. I would check out Washington Square Park after the show to see what was happening there. Maybe Dylan sitting on the grass playing.
Thanks for asking. That was a fun question.
There is a Blue Note album of Joe Lovano's from when he played at the Vanguard in 2001. I was lucky enough to have been there. No one knew upon arrival that the show was going to be recorded. Lovano mentioned it when he got on stage. You can hear me shouting "Woooooooo!" from my seat in the audience between songs. The CD is like a souvenir from that night, for me.