As for me, as much as I love both of my audio systems, nothing does it quite like live music. So last night I went down to Blues Alley in Georgetown (DC) to catch the late show of the Cyrus Chestnut Trio. For those who don't know, Cyrus is a jazz pianist of note. I like that he still plays standards, and his improvisations are very imaginative. As a surprise, he brought up onto the stage a young female singer imported from NYC. Her name is Brianna Thomas. I had never heard of her, let alone heard her. She was utterly brilliant, a new major talent, in my opinion. Sarah Vaughn and others, re-visited. (Almost no one ever in history had the chops of Sarah, including opera singers. Well, maybe Aretha. Maybe Tebaldi.) Her work with Cyrus made my day and my night. I had a conversation with her after the show, and I intend to hear more of her during future visits to New York. She's on CD only, sadly.
I know he has a big following, but I cannot make myself love Leonard Cohen. However, any man's death diminishes me, as John Donne said.
More than Leonard Cohen, I will miss my best friend, who was killed in a freak accident last April, 2016.
