In 1964, Dizzy Gillespie mounted a half-serious run for president. When asked why, his response: “Because we need one!” So on Oct. 27, KSDS is celebrating the 60th anniversary with a star-studded concert headlined by Jon Faddis and Charles McPherson. Why? Because we need one!
Just minutes after the Bill Mays Trio closed last Friday night’s Bud Powell Centennial concert with a euphoric take on Powell’s “Parisian Thoroughfare” that left us all exiting the concert hall floating at least three feet off the ground, the KSDS brain trust convened an emergency session in the atrium of The Conrad. We resolved not to rest on our laurels. The music we presented that night was too special, too magical for us to wait several months before bringing you another evening of commensurate artistry.
And so we did something that might seem counterintuitive; we turned to the upcoming presidential election for inspiration.