I had to get up extra early to drive out to Normandy for a meeting which was only supposed to last a couple of hours. A 3-hour drive one way, a 2-hour meeting and a 3-hour drive home was really something to look forward to... no? The meeting, as I should have guessed, lasted longer than expected and I was not going to have time to go home before going back out again for the meeting.
On the drive home I was so exhausted from this week of long days that I literally had to pull over and try and take a nap for about a half an hour or so. My phone hadn't rung at all during the morning or my meeting. But, of course, it rang 6 times while I was trying to take a nap. Realising that this just wasn't going to work I drove off heading back to Paris.
I called Robbie while on the road to let him know of the change of plans. I figured I would pick him up at his place rather than meeting him at the club. I was coming towards Paris and there was no point going home and then going to the club. That made things easier.
About an hour later it was obvious that I wasn't going to be able to get to Robbie's and then to the club in time. The traffic just outside of Paris meant that I was going to have to head directly for the club and meet him there.
Many weeks earlier, while surfing the web, I came across the JVC Jazz Festival Paris listing. I used to publish this programme on my, now defunct, Jazz in France web site. But I never went... not once. As many of you are aware I am spending the rest of my life, whatever's left of it, avoiding that sort of phrase "I always wanted to do that... I just never got around to it or I just never had the time". I saw who was playing and where and decided to contact Robbie and see if I could get some company as I knew there was one concert I just had to see.
Ron Carter is one of those jazz legends I have sworn to see live before either he or I die. I still will never forgive myself for not having seen my hero Joe Pass before he died. Ron Carter is probably the jazz bassist I have listened to most in my life and probably the one I remember most. There's a much younger jazz bassist I adore as well but we'll discuss him sometime later {g}. It's rare that I would play a bass album over and over again. But my copies of his "Pastels" and "Piccolo" albums would have been long since worn out by now if they were vinyl.
The New Morning is probably one of the biggest and most famous jazz clubs in Paris. Again I used to publish the programme of this club on my Jazz in France web site and always longed to go there. I had never been before. I ordered tickets for this concert many weeks earlier to make sure we had them and it was a good thing. I picked Robbie up on the corner at about 18:45 and we looked forever for a parking space. We finally parked a reasonable distance from the club. As we finally reached the club on foot I let loose one of those classic smack on the forehead moments. I had left the tickets in the car. Walk back to the car, find me a toilet, walk back to the club and we were standing in the queue at 19:30. The concert was supposed to start at 21:00 and the joint was already packed. We were able to get some "reasonable" seats and purchase some overpriced beer at the bar. The concert was just plain wonderful. A perfectly relaxing evening to end a very rushed week. The adjectives are easy and they are all synonyms of "smooth" or "mellow" or "laid back" or... you get the idea. Just plain pleasure. The man was surrounded by people who loved him and were just dying to hear him play and he delivered. He had brought with him a guitar player I had also been dying to hear/see play live: Russell Malone. I have to admit to not having been an enormous fan of his own albums. But I have loved his work on Diana Krall's early trio and quartet albums. The concert was referred to as "Ron Carter's Golden Striker Trio" and it was an interesting concept: the trio without a drum. A bass, a guitar and a piano [Stephen Scott who I wish would shut up while he's playing]. Although the entire concert was just plain wonderful, and few can beat Ron Carter for rhythym, I definitely was missing the drums within a half-hour in to the first set. At the end of the second set I definitely wished they had brought a drummer along... but it was still one of the better jazz concerts I've been to in a very long time. You may want to put this in to perspective: I have not been to a jazz concert in a very very long time.Afterwards we went out to get a bite to eat. Not a lot was open... We wound up at a FLO Brasserie in the neighbourhood, had an excellent 3-course meal with a wonderful bottle of wine, and I didn't get home until about 2 in the morning. A great night with a great friend and great music. What more can one ask for?
And now to sleep... aye perchance to dream...
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