I read about it on Henderson County Now:
”The Trinity Valley Community College Music Department is hosting a free concert by Grammy-nominated jazz saxophonist Greg Piccolo on Sunday, Nov. 10, at 4:30 p.m. at the East Texas Arboretum Pavilion in Athens. The Arboretum is located at 1600 Patterson Road. Piccolo has toured internationally with Jimmie Vaughan and recorded or performed with Eric Clapton, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Pat Benatar, Etta James, Dr. John, Big Joe Turner, Eddie Vinson, J. Geils and Earl King.”
It was wonderful. It was more than wonderful. And it was free. How can they do that? There was a nice crowd, but if people had known how great it was going to be, there surely would have been people standing in the flower beds and peeking over bushes.
My friend John, a knowledgeable music lover went with me, so I asked him for something clever to say about it. Instead of stealing his words, I’ll just quote him:
“Greg Piccolo’s tenor sax was capable of a huge variety of moods and styles, from traditional jazz treatments of the pre-rock classics to Texas Swing and even early rock ‘n roll. But he was especially spellbinding with his slow pieces, like a languorous treatment of ‘My Romance,’ in which he held on to particular notes like he didn’t want to let them go—and we didn’t want him to! His keyboardist (a young Japanese-looking man with a Japanese name that I never quite got) was up to every challenge, changing moods as rapidly and thoroughly as his leader required. “
John lives in the Metroplex where all kind of music is available. I’ve gone with him to the opera, and another time to a lovely Jazz Breakfast. But we both find it simpler for John to visit here, and he has been amazed by the variety and quality of the musical performances I’ve been able to share with him right here in Henderson County.
One of the big ones was the Texas Swings Festival, an amazing day-long joyous celebration of Western Swing Music, Texas style, which sprawled all over the Cain Center, inside and out. John loved it!
I took him to see the Green Cards, a wonderful, nationally acclaimed progressive bluegrass group, this spring when they appeared at the Country Club at a fund raiser for the Samaritan Project. If Greg Piccolo specialized in slow playing, The Green Card lead was the opposite, with faster banjo picking than I ever heard—John said he was as fast as Earl Scruggs! A real virtuoso performance . . .
And again at the Country Club, there was the HCCPA’s Spring Fundraiser, where they joined with TVCC’s music department to give us an outstanding evening of music, made even better by the singing of my grandson, Beau Humble.
Now, these last three cost money, and were well worth it, but two equally—at least in my estimation—outstanding performances were presented to us by Trinity Valley Community College, and they were absolutely free. I’ve told you about Greg Piccolo already. The other one, “A Choral Tapestry” performed by the students themselves, held at Dogwood Baptist Church this April, ran the gamut from folk, to spiritual, to opera, and blew our socks off! Like the Piccolo concert, there was a nice crowd, but not nearly as large as it would have been if all of you had known what you were going to be missing.
I am going get on TVCC’s mailing list. I don’t want to miss another thing they put on. And I’m going to try to do a better job of telling you about them. These performances are not to be missed!
John and I mostly just poked around this weekend. We visited our friends at 211 Gallery, where they have their new show going on, and have some more bargains for sale.
John’s grandfather was a druggist in Kerens, and John has happy memories of summers there. So we drove over and looked at the house where John’s father was raised, and one where John’s family lived a little while when he was very young. They have both been either kept up, or redone, and are really pretty. I’m going to post them on www.facebook.com/aroundthetown. John is giving some serious consideration to writing doing a guest column here soon, where maybe he will share some of his Kerens memories with you.
The other thing we did was have gumbo at Lake Jackson Seafood in Gun Barrel City. If you haven’t had it yet, you are missing a treat and a real bargain. Order the big bowl, and you’ll probably be able to take home enough for a second meal.
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I should have already told you that Randy Rader has been recovering from surgery at Cedar Lake Nursing Home. Now she is all better, and we can’t keep her at the nursing home much longer. She has been living in San Antonio since she sold the bookstore, but is considering staying in Malakoff. She is a real blessing to the nursing home—kind of a volunteer social worker. I really hope she does decide to stay here. If you have any pull with her, will you please help me talk her into it?