He Said:
So, you’re in the middle of doing whatever, some kind of something else, and you hear that piece of music for the first time, and you stop. Stop whatever that something else was and just listen with a who the hell is that?
In my head, I understand that music just isn’t that visceral for many people, but my heart can’t figure out how that can be. So if you can’t immediately think of where you where and what you were doing the moment you first heard song x or artist y, the rest of this probably won’t mean much. But if you are similarly afflicted, maybe you’ll get where I’m coming from.
After she died, I wrote about having exactly that experience the first time I heard Amy Winehouse. And it was like that the first time I heard Kind of Blue. And those are just a couple of examples.
Shortly after a divorce, I found myself, the clothes on my back, and two or three other random possessions in a furnished apartment on Frenchmen Street, tapping away on my laptop with WWOZ in the background. And that was my introduction to Jacqui Naylor.
The San Francisco based jazz vocalist was scheduled for two sets at Snug Harbor that week, and ‘OZ previewed the show with her take on Miss You. The Stones’ homage to the 1970’s New York City disco scene was transformed into a moody rainy day jazz meditation, perfectly arranged. It is as good today as when I first heard it.
Back then, you had to venture out into the real world to get your hands on a piece of music, and so within 24 hours I’d made the trip to acquire Shelter, her new release, and stopped by Snug to get tickets to the show.
Naylor plays one set a year at Snug Harbor, and for awhile I’d been to each of them. I missed her last year, but she’s back again this Saturday night, and we’ll be there for the 10pm set. If you like vocal jazz she’s an artist you may not have heard of who is very much worth checking out. For those of you on Spotify, here’s a link to a quick five song Jacqui sampler, including both Miss You and a version of My Funny Valentine as set to Back in Black (really).
Hope we’ll see you there.
