[Dixielandjazz] National Anthem

[Charlie Hooks]

on 5/30/02 9:30 PM, Stephen Barbone at barbonestreet@earthlink.net wrote:

> Best National Anthem I ever heard was several days after 9/11 when I
> went to see Arturo Sandoval in concert at West Chester University in
> Pennsylvania, USA. He played his own version of latin jazz that night,
> all high energy stuff and to my ears wonderful. He also talked about how
> much he owed Dizzy Gillespie, and how much he loved his adoptive
> country.
> 
> Then after his last number he was thanking the audience and a few people
> got up to leave. He said, "Wait a minute folks, we have one more number
> to play." He turned around a music stand and there was the flag. A hush
> immediately followed.
> 
> Then he took his fleugel horn and played a mello National Anthem 1st
> chorus down in the lower register. Then, switching to trumpet, he played
> a chorus in the middle register. Then, he followed that with a third
> chorus in the upper stratosphere register.
> It was stunning.
> 
> All chorus' were "as written", but there was so much timbre and emotion
> in those chorus' you would be hard pressed not to call it jazz.
> Needless to say, there was an enormous cheer at the end and hardly a dry
> eye in the house, including his. Sure, it is a bad tune, hard to sing,
> trite, whatever you chose call it, but the way he played it that night,
> it surely was magnificent. One of those "live" moments that we all try
> and achieve, but rarely do.
> 
> Cheers
> Steve Barbone
> 
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    What a splendid post, Steve!  Thank you.

Charlie