Old jazzers don’t die. They just get better
UncategorizedI stepped off the classical treadmill last night to join friends in the basement of a Chelsea Pizza Express to hear two jazz heroes of bygone years.
Paul Jones, once the lead singer-songwriter of Manfred Mann, is 82.
John Etheridge, 75, was the guitar engine of Soft Machine and a stage partner of Stéphane Grapelli.
Together, they are a dynamite act and not just in a musical sense. Jones is a walking Wikipedia of jazz provenance, who wrote what before whom, and who stole it off them. Some of John’s licks are so subversive they could be early Stockhausen.
We sat in a glow of ongoing creativity. None of the nostalgia wallow that has consumed the Stones and their ilk, just a lifelong love of music and joy to share it wherever they can.
Catch them if ever they’re down your way.
Old musicians don’t die. They just go from bar to bar.
And we play at home alone or with friends.
Norman, that is not jazz.
it’s blues, it’s r&b and some of it is jazz
Fabulous! And doesn’t Jonesy look young!
White Urban Blues, yes. Jazz? no….
That’s just fabulous! Thank you for sharing!