Redman Refugees Running Rampant

I got the news even before I had finished picking up everybody who was riding to the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival with me: The Friday night portion had been cancelled due to the weather. So much for Joshua Redman (whom I hadn't seen since his previous appearance at this festival in '99, as I may have already mentioned). The rain wasn't that bad out where I was, but I had heard from friends in Denton that it was worse up there (and evidently, just to the north, Gainesville got pelted). I guess they decided to err on the side of caution this time.

So there we were, four musicians in need of a concert. What were we to do? I had suggested that we could go to my house, put five Redman CD's in the disc changer and put the player on shuffle mode...but nah, we'd been bitten by the live-music bug, and nothing else would do.

We eventually decided to go see Wayne Delano, a fellow saxophonist and UNT alum, at Terilli's on Lower Greenville. But that show didn't start till 8:30, and it was not even close to six yet. The plan eventually evolved: We would stop at the first Starbucks we passed, and then we'd spend the remaining time at CD Source on Not-Quite-So-Lower Greenville for the rest of the time. (And who would have imagined that, going to Dallas from Rowlett via Miller/Royal to Greenville, that we actually didn't pass a Starbucks until Greenville and Caruth Haven? Granted, I may have passed one without paying attention...)

There's a reason I only go to CD Source every few months: There's so much good stuff there, and I'd be in the poorhouse if I were a "regular." I might do a roundup review when I've listened to them all, but here was the haul from last night: Bob Mintzer Big Band Camouflage (the only remaining hole in my early Mintzer collection, and I'm pretty sure it's out of print at the moment), Earl Harvin Trio Live at the Gypsy Tea Room (a CD I used to own, but it was stolen from a friend who borrowed it from me, and the label has since gone out of business), Paquito D'Rivera A Taste of Paquito D'Rivera (I'd been wanting this since a friend played it for me over two years ago), Chris Potter Quartet Vertigo (with special guest Joe Lovano on several tracks) and Dave Douglas Strange Liberation (which Colin turned me onto a few months ago). That's a lot of music for around forty bucks...

As we approached Terilli's, I got a call from J-Guar. A rumor was afoot that perhaps they would try to squeeze in Redman in the morning. I left a message at the festival office to call me back with confirmation (or not) of that rumor. In the meantime, it was time for some jazz. After a quick twenty-minute wait that was spent walking up and down Greenville (because by then, the weather--at least down here--was beautiful...arrggh), we got our seats (and hats off to Terilli's for taking down my cell number and using it as a sort of long-range beeper so we could walk around) and listened.

Wayne, a former member of the One O'Clock Lab Band, has always been an amazing player, and tonight his co-headliner was Joe McBride, a longtime fixture of the local scene. Though Joe is usually known for soulful, pop-laden vocals along with his keyboard prowess, tonight was all about the acoustic piano, which was really cool, as I hadn't heard him do a straight-ahead set in a long time. Rounding out the group were Joel Fountain on drums (another former One O'Clocker of more recent vintage) and a bass player whose name I didn't catch, but he sounded great.

The set was almost all standards, but they put different twists on a few of them. Wayne did most of his work on tenor, though he did pick up the alto for a Bird-laced romp on "Oleo." As usual, there were way too many people talking and eating their dinner and generally acting totally oblivious to the fact that there was some outstanding musicianship going on up there, but...meh, that's Dallas for ya. At least we appreciated it, and we subtly tried to educate the rest of the patrons by clapping after each solo, even if we were the lone table doing so.

The night ended with none of us knowing for sure if the "rescheduled Redman in the morning" rumor was true, but a lady at the festival did call me back a little bit ago to confirm what I had already guessed by looking at Redman's website just a few minutes beforehand: He's playing in Miami tonight, so he'd just flown out by the time the lady called me. They've asked him back for next year, so I really hope that works out. In the meantime, we restart the countdown at 364 days...

More animal stories: As I said a while back, I used to do a regular Animal Stories feature on my KNTU show in college, and this week, all the funny stories involve animals. Here's a sampler:

• It's double trouble for a West Virginia car thief, as the one he stole also had a missing potbellied pig in the back seat.


• At Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, authorities were searching for a wildcat on the loose.


• A fire at a New Hampshire house this week is being blamed on the family dog.


• And finally, down in Australia, it was crocodile vs. chainsaw. (Crocodile won.)