The Doorman’s Diary: 8.5-6.11

It’s Friday night and unpredictable. A hot summer night can go in any direction. The gnat-hallowed light showed the entrance door where customers entered into the cool, comfortable, moody-lit club, where they would be greeted by me, The Doorman. We were prepared. The jazz quartet started promptly. They were playing to a half-dozen customers. It looked like a slow, lazy night. A few more filtered in – one of which was a sax player who had played with the young sax player a few days earlier at an open blues jam. He likes the young guy’s chops and was looking forward to seeing him play in the quartet. He was not disappointed. The band played Blue Monk and then ramped it up with Sonny Rollins and Freddie Hubbard. The young saxman didn’t hold back, perhaps knowing that a fellow seasoned musician was watching with admiration. I had hoped to get the older sax guy on the stage, mentioning to the powers that be in the quartet that he had played with Sonny Stitt at the Village Vanguard and could grab his brass from the locked car trunk if he got the nod to join in on a song or two. No such luck. The stars in the dark humid night were not in alignment for a visiting saxophonist.