It was not my intention today to serve as a referral service to other peoples’ work, but the two blogs mentioned in the above item deserved referral. The next recommendation demands it. Gene Weingarten wrote the story for last Sunday’s Washington Post. It is about the classical violinist Joshua Bell playing for tips in the Metro, Washington DC’s subway. It is about much more. It is about us, what is important to us and what we make time for in the United States in 2007. The story is long. It has a video component. To read, see and hear it, click here.
I thank Hotel Pianist for pointing us toward this remarkable piece of work.
Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...
I’ve spent large portions of my professional life playing piano in saloons. So many parts of the article resonated with me.
I’ve always contended that if you sat Oscar Peterson down in a noisy restaurant and told no customer who it was, he would be ignored as much as the lowliest cocktail pianist.
And as a performer who has played the “big rooms” as well as the “joints”, the part about being uncomfortable at the end of a piece, when greeted with silence and indifference, resonated also.
Mike Greensill
Don’t get me started, Mike. 🙂 When I lived in Boston, as a lark, some people sent a recording of Tommy Flanagan to try to get a gig. Naturally, the tape was rejected.