The Dancing Bear 1 Redux
Monday, February 9, 2015
The concert for which there has been so much planning and preparation has come and gone. It was quite a success, with a good turnout – though as a performer I am conscious of the mistakes that I made (my friend Werner says that they weren’t “mistakes,” they were just a new way of playing the compositions!). Rachael was superb – looking and sounding utterly gorgeous. Our Schubert duet really worked quite well. And, if I do say so myself – my clarinet and drum re–work of Benny Goodman’s Sing Sing Sing really smoked, 2 thanks in large part to Mitchell Green’s expert drumming. Russ Greene was publicist, host, emcee, usher, stage hand, accompanist, and fine concert organist. Thanks to him everything held together and just worked!
Because Rachael and Michael had flown to Winnipeg for this, a family dinner followed with Troy, Marisa, Nick, and Alexander (in other words nearly all of our Winnipeg contingent), along with the California duo. Winnipeg put on a brilliant, sunny, and fiercely cold day to honour our warm–weather visitors (Rachael wore bright red stiletto heels for walking in the snow. It’s a “statement,” apparently).
Everyone together, performing “My Funny Valentine” Rachael notes that she would never have that stance in a concert piece, but she was having fun. |
FOOTNOTES:
1 For the ‘Dancing Bear’ reference, visit the page that I posted about my 2008 concert. Click here.
2 The Benny Goodman tribute piece is online. Click here to see and hear it.