Flight to LA
| I did not sleep the night before I left Maui. I kept
organizing and packing all night. The whole week I had
hardly slept, working against the deadlines of the
moveout and the plane ride. Early in the morning, my
friends Laurel, Gil, and Kitty gathered around me with
help, flower leis, visions of success. The whole tour is
a group effort, created through the cooperation of dozens
of old and new friends. I am buoyed by their generosity,
hospitality and love. Joe Gallivan, himself preparing to leave in two days for London to record two more CDs--he recorded two others there in March--walks me to the gate. We feel jet streams rustling our wings. Joe makes recordings with a minimum of rehearsal, no retakes, no overdubs. His improvisations soar effortlessly. He works with other musicians who compose and perform simultaneously. Mastering this art form takes more training than brain surgery. I will see him again in June, when he plays (drums, percussion and synthesizer) at the Knitting Factory (avant-garde music) Festival with his group of four horns, bass, and a Hawaiian chanter. You can check out his works at www.newjazz.com. He is the only musician based in Hawaii whose works are reviewed (all favorably, I might add) in the Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD, the authoritative work on the subject.
Joe's trio at Pacific O's in Lahaina, Maui, includes Shiro Mori on guitar and Gene Argel on keyboards My mother and stepfather meet me at the gate in Los Angeles. They radiate kindness. We gather up my flock of luggage and extract ourselves from the artificial reality of LAX. After I get to their comfortable home, I sleep for two days. |
