Yesterday Ron Goodwin and I drove from Phoenix to Long Beach for the annual IAJE jazz conference. It was a long drive -- we had to take a bit of a detour because of some kind of police situation on I-10 about 40 miles east of Blythe. Some guy was barricateded in his car with a gun and the police were trying to get him to come out. Traffic was at a complete standstill on the freeway for over a mile. Luckily Ron knew of the detour from his truck-driving days. It saved us quite some time.
We got registered, then at 8:00 pm we went to the first of 4 nightly mega-concerts. It started with the Monk Institute of graduationg students -- they were in a league way beyond my meager musical abilities. The coolest part was getting to hear Herbie Hancock sit in on the piano. He played some hauntingly beautiful stuff, some other stuff, then eneded the night with one of his most famous pieces: "Cantalope Island". Normally that is a somewhat simple tune, but he (and the band) took it in directions I never dreamed of. It was more like "Cantalope Space Station"!.
Next, there was a tribute to Antonio Joabim group that did a bunch of his songs. I think that was the highlight of the night for me. I went back to the hotel with "Waters of March" playing in my head, and still have it in there! And I don't mind -- I really like Joabim's stuff. The performers were essentially a who's who of Joabim / Bossa Nova music from Brazil, includng Joabim's son.
Last was Poncho Sanchez' latin band. I saw them last time I was here 3 years ago. Still very good stuff.
Didn't get to sleep until pretty late. This morning at 6:40 I was awakened by a minor earthquake. It was a 4.4 based in Fontana, which is quite a ways from here. But I did feel it. I looked out the window at the pool and saw waves, confirming it was for real. A visit to L.A. Is not complete without an earthquake!
Today has been amazing as well, so far -- the day's not even half over yet. I will write more about it later.
So far I pretty much feel like I have died and went to heaven!