Friday, May 10, 2013

What a wonderful night of jazz

By Annelore Harrell, Savannah

Whether it is the music of Duke Ellington, the unique style of Ahmal Jamal or the magical voice of Ella Fitzgerald with her perfect pitch and ability to scat, whatever jazz is being played, you can bet lovers of this genre will be out in force and always appreciative.
And so they were on the first day of May at the Junior Jazz Foundation fundraiser at Palmetto Bluff.
The weather was perfect, cool, only a few lost gnats wandering by.
We had been late. At the last minute, I was in my kitchen looking for a bottle of wine with a screw top. Trying to open one with a cork would have been a pain.
Jazz of any sort from Progressive to Dixie Land to New Orleans’ sounds better with a light libation in hand. To aggravate me even more, the wine glasses wouldn’t fit in my lunch box that held some cheese and crackers.
And naturally, the phone rang.
“Did you have any trouble finding a place to park?” asked son Boo.
“I haven’t left yet,” I moaned.
“Everyone is already there,” he said. “The place is packed.”
“I know, I know and I’m going. I have to pick up Tamela and we’ll be on our way.”
And we were.
“Musicians are always late,” I pontificated as we drove down Palmetto Bluff Road.
Tamela disagreed.
We paid our money at the entrance gate, arrived at the Green and set up our chairs.
The lawn boarded by oaks on one side and the Inn on the other had become an improvised theatre with the massive white columns of the Wilson mansion ruins providing an impressive backdrop for the stage.
A slight breeze came in from the May River.
Read more: http://www.blufftontoday.com/bluffton-sun-city/2013-05-08/what-wonderful-night-jazz#.UYvOnZXhEhQ

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