An Elder Octogenarian’s Musical Medley
Playing music has remained a major enjoyment factor for me during these late octogenarian years – and that’s not just playing the piano.
To illustrate the point, I’ve put together four clips from recent months in a 20 minute medley, containing the following elements:
Some straight piano treatments of excerpts from four standards – my favorite Beatles tune, In My Life; Henry Mancini’s Moon River ; then Memories of You by Eubie Blake; and How to Handle a Woman from the Lerner & Loewe Broadway musical, “Camelot”. This video was shot at the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge, where out-of-towners who come to NYC for extended chemo or other cancer treatments can reside there for free. Each month, an energetic group of volunteer women throw an afternoon tea party (with scrumptious pastries) for the temporary Hope Lodge residents and I (as well as others) provide piano accompaniment. The thoughtful videographer here was one of these volunteers, Janice Swan.
My son Tom, who is a professional musician in Los Angeles, was visiting the East Coast around Thanksgiving last year, and staying overnight in my office apartment on the first floor of the building in which we live. Late one night he joined me in our penthouse residence, where I keep an upright bass that he uses for New York gigs, and a vibraphone I enjoy fooling around on. Tom set up his iPhone and we put together an unrehearsed vibes-bass jazz version of Jay Gorney’s Brother Can You Spare a Dime?
Earlier this month, my other son Erik, an accomplished drummer, visited Barbara and me over the weekend at our Easton, CT retreat. There’s a good piano there and a set of drums, which we jam on together during each visit he makes. This time, though, I substituted a harmonica for the piano, and Erik backed me up on Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind. The tasty camera work is by Barbara.
Last May at Princeton reunions, I participated in the annual Battle of the Alumni Bands event (the oldest participant, to be sure, according to the event’s organizer). I sang and played these two songs: East of the Sun by Princeton’s own Brooks Bowman from the Triangle show of 1934 (the year I was born), which has remained a popular standard throughout the years; and Bob Dylan’s Forever Young, my trademark closing number at every gig I play.
Hope you enjoy this medley.
Jim