It’s 5:00pm and rehearsal time. We sit in the beautiful Lobero Theater in Santa Barbara — the lighting is soft as always, and this is a perfect setting to listen to these iconic jazzmen: Jim Hall and Dave Holland. No need to remind everyone, but just to clear our minds and souls let’s mention a few of the names they share space and time with: Bill Evans, Paul Desmond, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Evan Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Chick Corea…

We close our eyes and let the music enter our minds and bodies. Guitar (Jim Hall) and bass (Dave Holland) have never sounded so fluid–so vivid; it’s like drifting in a river of beautiful words–words of music. In between songs, Jim is telling us that since they are doing so well, “”Maybe we won’t have to play tonight!”" A laugh is echoing on the stage. A man in the audience suddenly yells, “”Hey Jim!”" Jim Hall stops, “”Hey Bones!”" His jazz friend pursues: “”Remember last time we met it was 45 years ago.”" And Jim replies with a smile, “”I don’t want to be remembered–I want to be anticipated!”" A brilliant line coming from a brilliant mind.

Jazz is exactly about this–about not only remembering some velvet-like moments in a jazz cave in Paris or at the Blue Note hall in New York, but also it’s the anticipation of the show to come–tonight, tomorrow night, and long after. Dave explains, “”A good jazz musician hears the music way before he plays it. And when you play, you don’t think anymore–you just ARE.”" And so it is: we all ARE that night, that magical night shared between an audience in awe before two giants of the jazz world. We all leave at home our sorrows and worries, our fear for tomorrow. For a few hours we just seize the night, stop time and ARE. Right now, right here, in the moment, the true nature of jazz is performed live. You just surrender your identity–your soul. You reach for that river of sounds, you swim against the current and it feels good–it feels like being alive and kicking. A few more strings echo in our heads and we can head to home sweet home, to be in peace, to be in jazz. We jazz, therefore we ARE.

For more information on Jim Hall go to: www.jimhallmusic.com and for Dave Holland go to: www.daveholland.com.

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