"Tonight is straight-up jazz. No fusion. No confusion," purrs legendary saxophonist Lou Donaldson into the Camden night and Jazz Cafe mic.
Rhythm and Rhyme are key ingredients of the jazz repertoire, chop in some creativity, slice and dice feeling and soul, and salt with skill. There are few cities in the world where you can just be strolling the boulevard to find a chalkboard: "Lou Donaldson and Dr Lonnie Smith ... Tonight". London is such a place and if you keep your eye on the Jazz Cafe and legendary Ronnie Scott's lineups, it just happens.
My favorite jazz is the Bluenote sound, full of blistering solos, tight rhythmic unity, chant outs (Who's making love ... to your old lady ... while you out on the road), and feet shuffling funk.
Lou Donaldson went though many phases in his career and is perhaps most classically defined as a successor to Charlie 'The Bird' Parker, a man whose name comes up on more than one occasion on this night. 50-cent and Snoop Doggy Dogg are others: "No 50 cent," Donaldson hisses. "No Snoop Doggy Dogg," now smiling, "But we did ask Snoop to send a few of his girls, Heh, Heh, Heh, naw ... he wouldn't do that."
This is the old school. These gents have been hitting the road for three decades in smoky jazz halls and private sessions. My first introduction to the good Dr Lonnie Smith was when studying jazz organ, his mastery of the Hammond B-3 unparalleled. Just watch him in the video. His perspective on life also reflects many of the characters that emerged from his era of jazz spectacular:
"But I didn't do it to be popular, or to be rich. You're already rich when you play. It's a gift from God. I was blessed, and you never forget that."
As for sweet Lou Donaldson, he is the author of my favorite jazz piece of all time: the cheery calypso of "West Indian Daddy". The stage patter seems practiced but effective with an audience who have basically come out to honour two old masters of craft.
And that seems like the season we are in. What with sudden recognition of the genius of Johnny Cash and the persistent Neil Diamond, maybe Rick Rubin should get his hands on sweet Lou. At the least, each of us in our way should take a moment to celebrate the musicians of this world. Donaldson is on side.
"Here we are going to play a song from the best jazzman of all time. And you know who I'm talking about."
He glances across the crowd but heads are bobbing in different directions: "Coltrane? Parker? Aretha? Miles? Louie?"
The first bars of "What a Wonderful World" slip from his alto saxophone and the answer is clear (see video). He bee-bops on the mic at the end with the classic salut: "Oooooh Yeeaaaah".
