exposed

My prior feeling of ambivalence, smelling a drastic attempt to put a cool whip on top of plastic ice-cream was soon abolished. The jazz series held at a shopping/mega Hollywood and Highland entertainment center was —-indeed, a good thing. 

Charlie Hunter and his current Trio with Erik Deutsch and Tony Mason delivered a quality show to a a packed audience. The stage was in the court yard, even as surrounded by commerce, it was a very good set up. There were hundreds of chairs and standing room all around occupied by old fans,new fans, and curious on-lookers. The sound system was surprisingly great.  I had a huge revelation that maybe… just maybe, putting legitimate concerts in the middle of modern marketplace, if done well, will prove more beneficial than… let’s say, putting on a concert at a specific venue charging a specific $$$ price from specific people? Can we have capitalism and socialism too? I think it’s time for us to draw up a new political/social/cultural structural idea.

Since Charlie put together this trio, I haven’t gotten a chance to sink into it so much. Maybe I was still missing the last trio with my favorite humans – John Ellis and Derrek Phillips. Tonight, however, I decided to go ahead and love this band of personalities, too. With Erik on the Rhodes, this new music direction is certainly different. I finally warmed up and got into them.

Afterward, we took a half an hour to decide where to go eat. I convinced them to drive to Chinatown, some 5-6 miles from where we were. The suggestion proved victorious, because FULL HOUSE Chinese food never failed anyone. They treated me to the dinner – which is why now – exactly at this moment – I’m feeling horrible for not able to find the negatives but a few from what I shot that evening. Especially sorry – Tony….. they will turn up!

Erik Deutsch

Charlie Hunter