From: Erik Gaderlund (gaderson_at_mac.com)
Date: 2005-03-27 11:17:14
At 08:54 AM +0000 03/27/05, Peter Hall wrote:
>As most of you know, Jimmy Smith recently died, and many of you
>probably know that there was a Jimmy Smith Tribute at Yoshi's in
>Oakland. Both my cousin and I were really excited to go to the
>Jimmy Smith with Joey DeFrancesco concert (the Lonnie Smith with
>Joey DeFrancesco concert a couple years ago at Yoshi's was both of
>our favorite concert ever), but then Jimmy Smith died and we were
>upset. But Yoshi's made the show a tribute to Jimmy Smith, and it
>ended up being an even better show than the Lonnie Smith with Joey
>DeFrancesco show.
Ditto.
>James Moody was on sax and flute and vocals, and was super funny
>with his wierd jokes. At one point he even started rapping, which
>was a suprise to even the musicians, by the way the drummer looked
>at Joey, but he followed along with a super funky beat. Then some
>manager of the club walked onto the stage and whispered something to
>Joey, and after the song was over, BILL COSBY walked onto the stage.
>My cousin and I were at a table touching the stage. I could have
>grabbed Bill Cosby's ankle if I wanted! He was pretty funny, but
>honestly, James Moody was more comedic. Bill Cosby guested on drums
>for a song. The actual drummer is one of the best drummers I have
>ever seen (and I've seen Lewis Nash, Brian Blade, Genji Siraisi,
>Elvin Jones on video, etc). I should look him up. He is the
>drummer for Joey DeFrancesco's trio, because I recognised him from
>when they played with Lonnie Smith.
Which show did you go to? My group went to the Friday 10 show (after
diner at Yoshi's). I would also give props to the guitar player.
And, yes James was quite a riot (he did the woman's part when sining
a duet, before he did the rap thing). I did see Jimmy the last time
he came through with my Dad, and I think Joey was a bit more fun--he
actually played rather than talked the whole time like Jimmy did.
erik g