Saturday #3 The Finale


This post has been somewhat delayed, as there has been no break in the action for a while.

The afternoon's sound check went relatively smoothly, other than a bit of persistent feedback in the monitors which took way too long to correct. Robin Jessome took a photo of Chucho and me together. He should be able to recoup his Banff expenses by charging us top dollar to get our pictures from him.

In previous years, my habit had been to have a glass of port at the pub before retiring for the night, but this year, other than the very first night, I had not had very much at all to drink, which resulted in a considerable saving of money.

So on this final full day at Banff, I took about half of the money I had saved and bought a very nice bottle of vintage port, something I would not normally do, but dammit, I had worked hard and deserved it, just like the three desserts each meal on the final day. I also located some decent souvenirs for everyone at home, no small feat considering the mountains of kitschy crap for sale in town. It was time to get ready for the gig.

Altoist Don Berner had dubbed the concert "Bay of Gigs" earlier in the week, possibly fearing that we would be massacred by impossible Irakere charts, which never manifested themselves. Had the gig not gone well, this would have been the title of this posting.

But we all knew that we were about to be part of something very special. The program Hugh and Chucho worked out started with Chucho playing solo, then add Hugh, next the faculty plus rhythm section, then the bones would do Manteca, and finally the trumpets and saxes and flutes would come out for the last four numbers, about 90 minutes in total. It turned to be simple yet very effective programming.

Many of us stood in the wings to watch Chucho play two solo pieces, the first being a medley of jazz standards, the second being more traditional Cuban folk melodies. Chucho played with mastery and again had some standing in the wings reaching for the Kleenex. Hugh then joined him in a duet of Body and Soul. After that the faculty and rhythm section entered for a rousing rendition of Billie's Bounce. Manteca was next and then the rest of us walked onstage. We then played the three tunes that Chucho had brought.

Everyone was very focussed and all of the tunes went extremely well, each building the excitement in the room. Hugh opened up the finale, Mambo Influenciado, and we all got several choruses to solo. I had debated whether or not to play it in the pocket, but finally decided to go for it in a much freer manner, as that is when I am best able to access my most emotional core. I had intended to look straight at Chucho and direct my solo to him. When it was time to blow, perhaps out of habit, I faced the audience so I could not personally guage his reaction. I did receive compliments from quite a number of people, sufficient for me to believe that I made the right stylistic decision.

The Mambo went on for quite a long time, until everyone had worn themselves out. Then the show was done. The Eric Harvie Theatre holds about a thousand people and it was totally sold out. The house erupted in an extended standing ovation. An encore was out of the question as the show clocked in at almost 2 hours and Chucho's limo was waiting to leave for the airport as soon as he was off the stage. He stood at the stage door and individually thanked each of us as we exited, and then just like that, he and Lorena were gone.

The arc of the show was just right. Chucho had played brilliantly and the band had given it their all, most likely the finest concert that I've ever been part of.

In rereading this before I post it, I realize that this is a fairly dry recounting of a concert performance, and in no way imparts what sort of feeling that was there. I just can't adequately write about the experience that I had - does that qualify me to become a critic? Put it this way - there have been concert experiences in my life when everything lines up perfectly and certain moments a captured in a crystalline memory, seared permanently into my few remaining neurons. There were many such moments at this show.

Chucho's playing was stunning and yet I now realize that he did not recreate his Giant Steps performance onstage. That was his private and very personal gift to only us in the orchestra. That memory resides in my heart.

I have never seen an artist deeply inspire so many people in such a short time, and cause so many to be overcome by emotion. Hugh and Lorae knew that Chucho was capable of this. They had extreme difficulty in making all of the arrangements to bring him here this year, but I would venture to say that the results exceeded any reasonable expectations.

Just before playing the concert, Chucho gave Marianne a handwritten page of manuscript paper with a special montuno for her to play, with a very personal and appreciative message to her on the bottom. Over the three days, he had inspired her playing to even higher levels. She constantly amazed us with her progress, and she's always been a formidable pianist. She rarely took her eye off him and his piano the whole time he was here, absorbing as much as possible. It was her turn to lose it after he left for the airport.

We retired back to the Music and Sound Building and had an afterparty that went into the wee hours. That bottle of port was an excellent way for me to send off this latest year at Banff, and much of the evening's proceedings will have to be permanently filed in the "What Goes On In Banff, Stays In Banff" folder. A lot of goodbyes were said and the general concensus was that it was a totally mind-blowing experience for all concerned.

I got back to the residence around sunrise.