Finally it was time for the man of the hour, Daniel Jackson.



In Japan, they call him the mysterious Mr. Jackson. He is a soft-spoken man who moves slowly and deliberately. His volume may be low, but the ideas come through loud and clear. To start the set, he and Marshall Hawkins played a piano/sax duet. They played for a few seconds to gauge the sound of the room, and the audience gave them a round of applause just to say that they've been waiting to show him some love for a while and didn't want to wait any longer.



Once the full band came up, there was a surprise.



Yup, two bass players. Marshall Hawkins on the blond bass, and John B. Williams behind Daniel Jackson. Russell Bizzet on drums, Gilbert Castellanos on trumpet, and Joshua White on piano. Needless to say, this is no pickup band. It's a collection of masters supporting a legend.

Russell's wife, Carla, sang on some tunes as well.



Mr. Jackson quipped something along the lines of  "We wanted a woman on stage. After all, where would we be without them?"



Indeed.



I'd like to point out that Joshua White is something special. He's still in his early 20's, but plays with the musicality and maturity of someone three times his age. Some people are just so talented, it can't help but show up early and in full force. He wouldn't be sharing this stage otherwise.
 


Marshall liked what he heard from Joshua too.



I just hope he remembers me once he's famous enough to have his choice of photogs to shoot his album covers.



I have a feeling that there wasn't much time from rehearsal with the full band. Mr. Jackson had to give some on-the-spot instructions a couple times. Once a song started though, it was as if they'd been playing together for months.



Gilbert has called Mr. Jackson a musical inspiration and he was playing with extra fire, even though he was in a supporting role tonight.







It seems that the more I enjoy a particular night of music, the better my photos turn out. That's definitely the case with this set. I was having a blast just being this close to this group of musicians, even sharing a couple smiles with Marshall during some solo sections.





Of course, everyone was in a jubilant mood.



During her speech earlier in the evening, Karin Carson told a story about how Mr. Jackson once asked her what Jazz is. No one asked me, but here's my take on it:

Life is hard, especially for people who are considered second-class citizens due to their race or religion. My grandfather was the only holocaust survivor of his entire family and both of my parents were denied entry to college in Ukraine, for no reason other than being Jewish. Injustice and hate can wear people down until nothing is left. But for some, they can take all that cruel treatment and turn it around into something else, something beautiful.

That's what jazz is to me. Harness all that negative energy and use it create something that can carry the spirit through the troubled times. Use the tools at your disposal, like discarded band instruments left over from the Civil War days, and make music that can articulate both the pain of your current circumstances and the hope that things will get better. And if you can relay those feelings to others through your instrument of choice then you can show them that there is still some hope and joy left in them, even if they can't see it on their own.



I'm glad that there are some people in this world who can do that.