The Jazz Hands

If you are excited while listening to live jazz, do you get jazz hands? According to my husband, in that setting, it’s just “hands.” Oy. Anyway, my hands were calmly in my lap, but I was really enjoying jazz this past weekend. The husband, daughter, and I were in New York City for the weekend and decided to enjoy some Jazz at Lincoln Center. I’ve always been a fan and that joy escalated exponentially in college when I would go see live shows on campus. I was lucky, as my school brought in a lot of greats. I saw Dave Brubeck, and all the Marsalis men. And so many more. Sometimes my friends would just shake their heads no. They had other plans. So I often went alone. I loved it. So, when I saw the chance to see Wynton Marsalis again, 30 years later at Lincoln Center, I told the fam we were going. They didn’t shake their heads no. They heartily agreed. I’ve got a good family.

What I love about watching jazz live is the amount of feeling going into it. The band members, even the audience members, often have their eyes closed to have a full body experience with the music. When one musician goes into some solo time and hits a really good note, other band members let out a little whoop, or “yeah.” It’s thrilling. It feels like we are all winning at something. We had cool seats that overlooked the band, and I got to notice the small things like the drummer was only wearing rainbow socks. I could also see how each musician organizes his music and extra pieces for the instruments. It’s different for each person. I love that in between pieces, one of them would get up to discuss the history and inspiration of the piece. Jazz has HISTORY and you can feel that when they play it. It’s a strange, visceral, physical experience. The packed audience was rapt (well, except for one little girl, about age 8 in the front row, who slept comfortably the whole time).

I wondered if my teenage daughter would be bored during this 2.5 hours of music with no words. Nope. She loved it. I subtly looked to my side throughout the concert and noticed both her and and my husband bobbing to the infectious beats. Pure bliss. The work and practice that goes into playing jazz, especially at that level, is astronomical. I left feeling energized and inspired. 10/10