Lush Life: The Continuing Adventures of a Jazz Quartet at Java Monkey's Fortnightly Wine Tastings

Thursday the 5th of January was my first official paid musical engagement of the new year.  I am back with The Adrian Ash Group for perhaps another series of wine tasting events at Decatur's beloved Java Monkey, a coffehouse/bistro/restaurant that also happens to serve distinguished selections of wine and locally crafted beers.  We provide jazz originals, standards, swing, bossa, ballads, electric fusion, instrumental classic rock, and the like for those who wish to partake in the cozy environs of the patio area.  Speaking of which, one of the natural gas faux-fireplace space heaters has just been replaced along with the drapery doorway, making the patio a warm refuge from the chilly windy Dekalb County Marta and Police fueled streets.  It was toasty!  What a difference - spread the word, wake the babies, get down here next time!  And yes, fortnightly is the same as biweekly, but apparently not in the UK (see here).

For this night, it was Adrian, Guy Fenocchi, myself, and Marquinn Mason, who played with us on this very stage last year.  Also added to the proceedings, we had guest vocalist Emile Worthy, a ballad specialist in the Johnny Hartman vein.  The first tune Emile called was Lush Life, which perhaps not so ironically was quite famously rendered on the essential yet brief pairing of John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman.  I am not a jazz historian (really) and don't know all the big players as well as the Miles, Tranes, Methenys, etc., but I can honestly say that it would be a waste of time to find a more superlative version of this song.  This song, by Billy Strayhorn, would have to be considered his quintessential composition, rumored to be written by young Billy at the age of 16 (originally titled "Life is Lonely", btw).  Anyways, for some reason, the tune is ingrained in my conscious.  I think my old roomie Sam Skelton taught me that it was an important record and I took to it.  It's Trane made easy for the masses - no sheets of sound, no Giant Steps to keep up with, no false harmonics and reaching for the higher being, no double quartet or modal excursions.  Just good old fashioned tunes that your mother could appreciate.  Lush Life is a great tune, but if you've never really listened to it before, it's a sucker to try to play on the spot.  We had a trying time with it.  It follows the vocal very closely.  It also cannot be played without the verse up front.  However, when the solos come around, it's only the choruses that get repeated, as with any standard.  The good ol' Real Book does not do a good job in distinguishing that, and btw, mangles some of the chords pretty well at that.  Ugh!  I had penciled in the correct changes years and years ago, but the tune just doesn't get called very often - we're all a little afraid of it Billy!  Joe Henderson's solo rendition is wonderful - a great vehicle for him to play the melody and harmony as well, with help from nobody else.  Nat Cole did a nice job as well.  Here is a very good chart, taken from the New Real Book 1 - they get it wrong once in a while too, but this is spot on.  I hope we can develop it with Emile in the future - it should be his signature song.

To be honest, the whole night was kinda like that.  We played You Are the Sunshine of My Life in the key of Eb, which made a good fit for Emile's voice.  We played Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby in Fm and he did well, making up some of the words but leaving out the verse - he didn't know it at all.  That's okay and we followed him.  I love his voice and he is very talented.  We talked about getting a show together.  That will take getting a list - with his keys!!! - together.  It needs to happen.  Singers have to sing standards in their keys.  End of story.

Marquinn had a great tone and some really nice melodic turns.  I played my NS WAV and it sounded good.  The action was higher than I remember.  The cold weather has taken it's toll and if I want to play it tomorrow with Platinum during our jazz set than I need to tweak that a bit.  It was good to be back - we missed the show 2 weeks ago due to some severe rain storms barreling through the greater ATL.  Here are some pics - taken by Emile so they look better than usual.