jazz legends for Disability pride 2016 - jan 14
- photography by Clara Pereira / text by Filipe Freitas
- This article was also published in Portuguese on Jazz.pt Magazine
A crew of jazz legends played in a benefit concert linked to the Disability Pride NYC, a not-for-profit started by the pianist Mike LeDonne whose 11-year-old daughter, Mary, is disabled. The event, which also occurred last year, took place at the Quaker Friends Meeting Hall, joining true jazz legends such as the trumpet players Wynton Marsalis and Eddie Henderson, the drummers Jimmy Cobb and Louis Hayes, the pianists Monty Alexander and Harold Mabern, the bassists Bob Cranshaw and Buster Williams, and the 80-year-old saxophonist, George Coleman, who despite physically debilitated (he played seated on a chair during his two interventions), showed to still have a rich sound, founded in the old hard-bop.
In addition to the ones cited above, other contemporary ‘monsters’ of jazz also participated in the event, cases of the guitarist Peter Bernstein, the bassists Christian McBride and John Webber, the pianist Bill Charlap, and the tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano who replaced the everlasting Benny Golson, absent due to a non-serious illness. The three-hour event was exclusively composed of standards, providing a joyous time to the lovers of mainstream jazz.