January 15th, 2018
 

Dear Friends:

I just returned this morning from the Festival Internacional de Jazz de Providencia in Santiago, Chile.  Thanks to the work of festival director Roberto Barahona and promoter Joel Chriss (with props to his assistant Chris Beaudry) the festival was a remarkable three nights of open air concerts presenting both Chilean and New York jazz groups.  Chile, and particularly the beautiful city of Santiago, was a revelation to me.  The weather was pristine and the people so kind and generous.  There is art everywhere and a great vibe to the city.  Representing the Big Apple, New York City was organist Mike LeDonne and his Groover quartet featuring Eric Alexander on tenor, Peter Bernstein on guitar and Joe Farnsworth on drums.  They hit hard on the first night in front of a audience of thousands.  The crowd loved it and showered their appreciation on the band with warm cheers.  The next night was the SmallsLIVE Collective, an ensemble which included Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Abraham Burton on tenor, Dezron Douglas on bass, Joe Farnsworth (once again) on drums and myself at the piano.  I had honestly never played in front of such a large audience but once we got going it felt like a club.  The audience was remarkable.  This was an enormous outdoor festival with jumbotron TV's and big sound towers but the crowd was chill.  Even though it was set up like a rock concert, it really felt intimate, like a club, the crowd super-attentively listening.  The music and audience synthesized into one big note and everyone was touched by the spirit.  The third night featured hometown hero Melissa Aldana and her excellent group with Phil Dizak on trumpet Jure Pukl on alto, Eden Ladin on piano, Pablo Menares on bass and Kendrick Scott on drums.  All three nights went perfectly and everyone seemed incredibly happy.

I also got to visit the local jazz club of Santiago called "Thelonious" named after the great one.  Once I stepped into this joint it confirmed for me once again the thing that I've experienced worldwide - that Jazz is universal.  This jazz feeling and the people that identify with this music, the musicians themselves, the people who work at jazz clubs, those that never leave, they are all JAZZ PEOPLE.  Man, it's the same in Rome, Paris, Beijing - you find these pockets of Jazz People and in an instant you're home.  You're with YOUR people, hanging, smoking, sitting in, talking shit/shop - the same attitude, the same kind of thinking and mannerism.  Amazing.  It's a real sociological phenomenon that some PhD should do a study on.  At Thelonious the owner was truly Mitch Borden-esque, living in the club, announcing the bands, managing the bar, greeting all the folks.  I could only laugh, drink a pisco-sour, and let this guy do his thing as this jazz club raged around me.

It also made me think about the positive message of this music.  In this unfortunate time when the USA is coming across to the world as a crass bunch of idiots, jazz musicians are healing the wounds.  These great musicians are eloquent and intelligent and playing this beautiful life affirming music.  If I had the funding I'd send SmallsLIVE GoodWill Tours all of the world spreading the Gospel of Bebop - the true American art form that, because of it's spiritual roots, is available to all Humanity.  Here for anyone that wants to embrace it and make it their own.  Jazz is real freedom. It binds and unifies in the most positive way.  I'm convinced that jazz music is the key to world-peace.  I am seeing it everywhere.  It is real.

Peaceful abidings!

Spike