Farewell to a classic

Several weeks ago, on my birthday, Marian McPartland died. I’m not a jazz expert, and I listened to Piano Jazz only occasionally. But I always enjoyed hearing her discussions with other musicians. She was a conversational improviser as well as a musical one, and I admired that.

I have one cd of Marian McPartland Live at Maybeck Hall, and I like it so much that I bought a music book a few years ago. I’ve played around with the songs, but they’re difficult, and I’ve only actually practiced two of them. This one, “I’ll Be Around” by Alec Wilder, is not actually one of her arrangements, but she plays it on the cd I have, and I’ve always loved the chords. So here’s my imperfect rendition, offered in farewell to this amazing musician.

It’s typical of my playing: various noises in the background, not as much dynamic range as I’d like, a piano beginning to go out of tune, and a few blunders. I’m a complete amateur. But I get a lot of pleasure out of playing, and I keep doing it partly because there are musicians out there who inspire me and keep me working at it. In that sense this is a fitting tribute to a grand lady who attained to such excellence in all aspects of musicianship and cordiality.