John Handy Has Class

Friday night, Healdsburg was the place. I should know, I drove almost three hours to get there and at 10 p.m. when I arrived, there was time to freshen up as Greg Bridges introduced John Handy, made a few programming announcements, and then left the stage as the lights went down. I kept looking for Randy Weston and Mrs. Weston. Dafina and I were going to offer them our seats, she told me. Mr. Weston was in town for a fundraiser for the Jazz Heritage Center in San Francisco earlier this week.

As usual, the Raven Theatre was full, but not so full I could miss my sister, Dafina or miss out on two perfect seats. Yes, I saw them first, but it would have been an honor to give them to the Westons.

John Handy Septet opened the eventing with Motherless Child, sung beautifully by Kenny Washington. At times Kenny and John played the same notes. Nina, from New York, happened to be in town, so when she got the call, it wasn't a major logistical worry on top of everything else. Her mother had been ill, so she was on her way out to the West Coast.