Strolling with Leah, Sitting with Sonny

 


Years ago, at the beginning of this bizarre century,
Leah, (a teenager at the time), & I were strolling in The Village in NYC on a
                 Saturday night.....we stepped around a corner
           & there was the 2nd manifestation of Sweet Basil (jazz joint).

I could see Sonny Fortune just ending a set, putting his alto on it's stand,
    and starting toward the front of the room.

Not expecting to be recognizedd, i waved at him.   A year before, at the behest
      of the great bassist and friend of mine, Henry Franklin, i'd shared in a
         backstage, post-concert dinner with Sonny, Henry, and Frank Morgan in
             Kansas City.

Sonny came to the front door, and indeed remembered me. He told the doorman
     that Leah and I were his "guests", (no cover charge).

We sat at a booth, waiting for the next set to start.  In the course of conversation,
      Sonny said his daughter had died of cancer several months earlier.

"Damn, that's a terrible thing to lose a child at any age. Life'll never be the same."

As he got up to return to the bandstand, he said: "You be sure & take care of this little girl of yours."


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2018dankozakBadArtAndMusicAndPooteryForAll !!