Good jazz today...

Awakened to a sunny morning on Spindrift this Sunday morning. Sailing seemed the thing to do, but I'd promised Fred Schultz at the South Bay Traditional Jazz Society that I'd play piano. Sailing would probably have been great, but the jazz was hot today! For almost twenty years, I played with a wonderful stand-up bass man: Paul Matulich. The first time we met, he sat in with me at Digger Dan's Restaurant in Gilroy; it was as though we'd played together all our lives, and starting then we played that gig for nine years. When we tired of working every weekend, we formed a quartet to play parties, weddings, barmitzvahs, and funerals, which lasted another decade, fading away as group members moved apart, and closing when Paul died unexpectedly. I've missed him as though he were a brother, and for quite a while didn't play much at all. A good bass man (pardon the pun) is hard to find. There are lots of electric players, but nothing beats a stand-up for jazz, swing, and stride. So, I'd about given up on ever finding another good bass man. Until today and Sam Morocco! I may have missed a sunset (certainly not as pretty as the one at Ala Wai Harbor in Honolulu, below), but I'm not sure it could have been better than the jazz this afternoon.