New York State of Mind

March 7th

I came up yesterday to hear Killian's band from Western Michigan U. play at Jazz at Lincoln Center. I was so energized by being back in the city and then by the terrific concert, hearing and seeing all those talented kids have a peak experience of their lives. They had been there for three days, and there was the band set up in the Allen Room, the backdrop huge windows looking over Columbus Circle and the lights of New York City. The arrangements were tight and intricate and everyone gave their all. An old guy to my right dressed in a pin striped zoot suit with a purple shirt and fez, a former member of Manhattan Transfer, was clapping and shouting out his approval , the audience was rocking.

A recording is not even close to the power of a live performance. I couldn't stop moving with the music and realized afterward that all my neck pain and shoulder aches were gone. When the rhythm is coming up through your feet and the sounds are all around your body, you can't worry- you can't think too much- you want to dance and that's all.

I had a good talk with Killian before he had to get on a bus for a group party to end the visit. It sounded like he'd used every minute of his trip- good eating, going to MOMA, and a great experience at a Small's jazz club in the Village where Wynton Marsalis showed up to sit in with the group they'd gone to hear.

As I walked- almost ran to my parking lot, I got that New York pace back: fast walking with no effort, that thrum around me, all the possibilities, all the aliveness.These beautiful talented young people, all their lives ahead of them, aware but undeterred by the idiocies of previous generations, undeterred also by how hard it might be to make a living doing what they love. They'll find a way, make new opportunities. Thank God for them and their teachers who encourage them. And thank God for this city that sometimes even makes me feel that there's dance in the old dame yet.