me with Henry Mancini after winning the jazz instrumental category in the 1993 Music Center Spotlight Awards
So I got an invite to attend this year’s competition (hosted by no less than Tony Danza), which marked the 20th anniversary of this thing, and I was totally blown away by the talent of these frickin’ kids! I don’t know if any of you fellow bluehairs (34 years young myself) feel the same way, but I was under the impression that all high school kids these days were into was MySpace, text messaging, and doing that thing that I heard about in high school called “dating.” But seriously, I figured that with all of the distractions and challenges high school kids face these days that attention spans would be at an all time low. And becoming a top-notch performer or visual artist most definitely takes a serious attention span- or at least it took whatever attention span I could muster during my high school days.
Agatha and I at the Los Angeles Music Center right before the show
Well, lemme tell ya, these kids were on fire! I mean, the one category that I can be at least somewhat of an authority on is jazz music, and suffice it to say, I’m glad I didn’t have to compete with either one of them back in ‘93. Not only did they possess incredible technique, but they played with passion, originality, and depth as they tackled odd time signatures and harmonic density like old pros.On top of that, virtually all of the finalists were incredibly well-rounded and had interests in other areas (one example I can remember was that the jazz winner was also a genius mathematician), social issues, and this other thing I had heard of in high school called “helping other people.” Pretty cool when I consider how many times my friends who teach school tell me that “the kids are getting worse each year.” Maybe that is the case in some respects, but it’s definitely not the impression I got from this very wide cross-section of the cream-of-the-crop overachievers.
As a producer, I found this totally inspiring, as it’s great to know that with the level of talent and just plain integrity on the rise, I’ll have a steady stream of great musicians to work with on future projects. Especially with these great jazz musicians, because for the funk-oriented music I do, I find that jazz musicians are invaluable, since they’re familiar with concepts such as groove, and jazz harmony- which is quite different than classical harmony. In fact, many (if not most) of the musicians who invented funk music had jazz backgrounds. So I said all of that just to say that the kids are indeed alright, and I see no need to fear that true talent and discipline have gone the way of the 8-track cartridge or SCSI.
And on a much more significant note, after the show, Agatha and I were feeling adventurous and ended up at Astro Family Restaurant in my old stomping grounds of Silver Lake. You see, now that I’m getting a bit “long in the tooth” (although I can swear to you that my gums are not receding at this time) I have to be conscious of how much calorie-intensive food I put into my body. As a means of keeping healthy while not depriving myself, I allow myself one “Cheat Meal” per week where I pretty much go whole-hog with the grease and the sugar (ie: patty melt, calzone, cheesecake- not all in the same grazing of course). Our impromptu stop proved to be a wonderful occasion for that week’s Cheat Meal- and I’ve got the photo to prove it. Damn good fried chicken if you ever find yourself in the area late on a Saturday night.
Agatha and I presiding over some fried chicken and onion rings, to be followed by pecan pie (not pictured)
In other news, I just recorded Larry Steen’s bass for my next track entitled “All Around Us” and the results were truly incredible (not that I was at all surprised given his phenomenal ability). More on that coming soon!
Wth love from Marina Del Rey,
Doron
