I'm happy to be back in The Perspective to talk about another Outpost Performance Space season. We started off with a bang in February at the Kiva Auditorium with the 15-piece Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra led by Wynton Marsalis. The JLCO featured the music of the great Duke Ellington—a terrific concert at which I was so happy to see so many Perspective readers. Let me recount one wonderful experience about that night. The band arrived on the bus at 3pm that afternoon, checked into the hotel, and were at the venue at 5pm for sound check, followed by dinner, and a two and a half hour concert. For all of us in the audience, that was the end of a terrific night of music.
But for the band it was time to pack up the instruments, go back to the hotel for two hours, and then jump on the bus again at 1AM to head off to Oklahoma. WOW! So much for the romance and the easy life of musicians on tour. After the orchestra had left the building and were back at the hotel relaxing for a minute,
I made one more run to the Kiva to pick up the last band members. To my surprise everybody had left—musicians, band managers and so on. The only one left was Mr. Marsalis himself sitting at the piano on stage— the sound system being packed up all around him—playing for, and listening to a young man of maybe 12 years old. I sat there and waited while Mr. Marsalis heard what the young man had to say on the piano and while he, in turn, showed the young man what to do. This must have gone on for a full 30 minutes at which point Mr. Marsalis said goodbye to his young friend and I drove him to the hotel so that he could pack up and join his band mates on the bus.
I don't know what this young man's name was but I would bet that his life has been changed as a result of that experience. These are the moments we live for— as we see how much artists such as Mr Marsalis (whose public performance by itself would have been more than enough) are willing to give to our community. And specifically to the youth of our community.
I am honored to have been a part of that night and my respect for Wynton Marsalis is beyond measure. Moving on, we have a great spring and summer ahead of us. The concert by saxophonist Ravi Coltrane (son of the legendary John and Alice Coltrane) at The Space on March 13th and 14th was just terrific—part of a collaborative effort funded by the National Endowment for the Arts which allowed the group to tour from Las Cruces to Albuquerque and on up to Santa Fe. The Outpost spring season runs through the end of May and features a wide variety of acts from the all-star SFJAZZ Collective; to the Charles Lloyd New Quartet; to the legendary avant garde jazz bassist Henry Grimes; to Marie Knight— duo partner of the 1930's and ‘40's gospel star, Sister Rosetta Tharpe; to the Masters of Percussion, a ten piece rhythm extravaganza from India led by Zakir Hussain, the greatest tabla player alive. Then in the last two weeks of July it's the 3rd Annual New Mexico Jazz Festival— a two city collaborative effort of the Outpost Performance Space, the Lensic and the Santa Fe Jazz Foundation.
This year we'll be presenting the legendary New Orleans songwriter and piano-player Allen Toussaint (Workin' in a Coal Mine) in a free concert on Albuquerque's Civic Plaza; plus Pharoah Sanders; Cassandra Wilson; Paquito D'Rivera; Senegal's biggest star, Youssou N'Dour; the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and more. But more about that later. Meanwhile come see us at The Outpost Performance Space on Yale 2 blocks south of Central and on the web at outpostspace.org.