Steppin' Out Live!; Excerpts; Part 4

This is members supported WGBH eighty nine point seven FM in Boston, and you are listening to Stepping Out Live, a benefit for Dimock Community Health Center from the Hynes Auditorium. This is Margot Stage. With me is Ron Della Chiesa. Yeah, Michael. And we have been at Louie's Lounge live with wonderful so many McChord performance, backed up by Bobby Tienes playing alto and tenor saxophones, exurbia, Perez Socco on piano, Wessely worth on bass and Herbie King on drums. And we are having a ball here tonight. Margo Boston's best, most fashionable audience, great music, all for a wonderful cause. The Community Health Center. That's right. It's a terrific, terrific night. And we are doing the rounds here at the Hynde's. We're going from one jazz club to another jazz club, recreations of the famous jazz clubs of Boston from the 40s, 50s and 60s. And right now, we're going to take you to the Pioneer, the after hours elite Pioneer Club, where we just found out that Sabby Lewis, orchestra leader Sabby Lewis, who was going to be one of the one of the talent tonight, one of the musicians, and

then had a scheduled operation. So couldn't be. But we've just found out that Sabby Lewis is on the piano at the Pioneer Club. So let's go there now for Sabby Lewis. This is members supported WGBH eighty nine point seven FM in Boston, and you're

listening to Stepping Out Live, a benefit for Dimock Community Health Center from the Hynes Auditorium. I'm Margot Stage. And with me is Eric Jackson. What a lot of music going on, Sappi, Lewis and people just playing everywhere and people very excited about the night's activities. And we have two performers here with us. And I want a musical performer, one who performs quite a little bit. Stan Strickland, hello. How are you doing? Everybody out there. Good to have you here. Stan, it's been wonderful tonight. You've been really playing some great music. Oh, thank you. We're excited. You know, we get all these people on the bandstand like Wanetta Jackson and Tonya Harding Fitzmartin, and you don't know what's going to happen. I mean, really, we didn't quite know who was going to happen. We just went for the interview. Happening now, it's good and honest people here tonight supporting this event. You know, it helps us because we know that we're doing something for a good cause and we're not really worried about, you know, wearing the right no, just play from the heart. And I think everybody feels that this is really exciting. I think that's true. Stands to Stan Strickland in here with us also is Amilcar.

You know, it's interesting, Stan, you were absolutely incredible out there tonight. You talk about playing from the heart, not only when you're playing the heart, you give him from the heart. And this is what it's all about. The Democrat is doing so many wonderful things for a lot of wonderful people. And to see you up there with your your your expertize is just absolutely incredible. And we all enjoy. It was a lovely evening. Thank you. You know, it's interesting, Emily, I saw Earl the Pearl Monroe on a music show not too long ago, and he was talking about how the cheering of the crowd and are like like at a basketball game pumps the basketball players up and makes them perform better. And he was saying that he thought that was like music. You know, when the crowd starts yelling and screaming, the guy start blowing. No more to stand out the other day. What was he up? He was really bringing it to it. And it's just like Larry Bird on the role of Michael Jordan, on the role he was Michael Jordan, that he was he was your Larry Bird. And I have to agree with him on the role it is. You're getting something back. You've been fed back and you're playing off the crowd pit. But we can't lose sight of the fact what this is all about.

Stan mentioned that he's getting it from the heart. He's giving everything he has because it's for a good cause. The people with good will and great things, again, for great people. And that's what it's all about. Thank you, Emil. Thank you, Stan. It's that combination. You know, it's people working and giving and coming together. I think this is a good time for anybody who ever felt like they wanted to give. This is a good time to go out there and do it because we need to support each other in every way that we can. And music is so good because we can bring a lot of people together, people who maybe haven't played together, I don't even know each other and just opened up their spirits and things will happen. So hopefully this will be an example for other people how they can make their contribution. Also joining us now is Rhonda CUSA and Novela Taylor. Welcome to Hello. How are you? It's wonderful to see you tonight. And we've been thoroughly enjoying hearing you tonight. And, you know, I've been so happy doing what I'm doing because it's been such a long time. But I had retired for twenty four years and I've just got back into.

The swing of jazz, and I love it so much for three years, and I'm enjoying every minute of it, and they're enjoying Novela too, just to see her performance. He's such a total pro. up there in control of your audience. I think it's what this music's all about. You have such a lovely, lovely voice. It's wonderful that you're using it again. But you know, the beauty of it to me, I feel very privileged and very honored to be doing this at this age because I am 78 years old and I have stopped singing for 24 years and I have just gone back into it for the last three years. And I'm telling you, I'm enjoying it and I'm happy that I'm being accepted at this stage and it's in my heart to sing and like to do more of it. That's a real gift, that at 78 you can still be here singing and and giving that to us. It's a gift for us as well as as as you said for you, because you love it so much. And the things that I'm doing now is because I haven't changed at all.

I always promised myself if I didn't please my audience well, if I felt that I couldn't cut the mustard and I would hang it up. But right now I'm enjoying every minute of it. And in fact, so many young people who haven't heard the old tunes. And I do it in my way and they seem to enjoy it, then it makes me happy to know that I'm giving Novela Taylor one of the great vocalists of the Pioneer Club, which is one of the clubs we were enjoying here tonight at the Dimock fundraiser. We are going to be going now to the jazz workshop where Roy Haynes is drumming away. On

Saturday. Anthony. I had an. You're listening to members supported WGBH eighty nine point seven FM in Boston.

This is Margot Stage, along with Rhonda Laksa and Eric Jackson. You know, we'd like to thank you all for being a part of a remarkable evening of jazz history and also a community spirit when we've seen and heard here. Tonight is an example of how music, individuals and community organizations like Dimock keep each other going. I'm sure you'll agree. This has been a night of great music that we'll remember for a long time. And we're so happy that you could share it with us on the WGBH airwaves. We hope you'll keep on listening and swinging to the music and supporting the great artform American jazz and the institutions like the Dimock Community Health Center that help us survive and thrive from one century to the next. We have a long list of people to thank for making this terrific night happen. Our executive producer is John Solins. Our producer and director is Melanie Berzon, assistant director, Martin Miller; technical director and production mix engineer, Steve Kolby; operations

director is John Vosey; broadcast director is Steve Schwartz, our host Ron Della Chiesa, Eric Jackson and myself, Margot Stage; transmission engineers John Rogers, Peter Swanson and Perry Carter; production assistants are David Lavallee, Madge Kaplan and Elizabeth Arnold. Our features producer was Margo Stage; features assistant producer was Steve Schwartz; features production engineers were Perry Carter, James Donoghue and Jane Pipik. Our marketing coordinator is Robin DeShields and our publicist is Lynn Duvall. Our unit manager is Josie Patterson, information specialists are Alice Abraham, Cyn Goodnough; Shuan Lee; our board operator at WGBH is Holly Freeman Harris. And we'd like to thank the staff in the individual rooms, too. In the jazz workshop, our producer was Bob Lyons. The music mix engineer was Jane Pipik; stage engineering was handled by Myles Smith. The production assistant was Brian Bell. And in Louie's Lounge, the producer was Mike Manning; music mix engineer; James Donehue,

stage engineer, was Dan Jones and the production assistant was Terry Waters. In the Pioneer Club, the producer was John Solins with Frank Cunningham serving as the music mix engineer. Jeff Turton was our stage engineer in the Pioneer Club. Scott Fessler serving as production assistant. And Eric, special thanks to Ron Lavelle and the main events crew, Ken Davis and Jacqui Jenkins Scott of Dimock Community Health Center, Lolita Alvarillo and the staff of the Hynes Convention Center, John Maxim and the crew of Capron Lighting and Sound Company. Ron Lavelle, producer of Made Events, is right here with us now. We'd like to just make a special thanks to you, Ron. It's been a terrific evening. Thank you so much. We're very happy that you took the opportunity to join us and we hope you come back next year. Thank you very much. And from the Dimock Stepping Out event here at the Hynes Auditorium, this is members supported WGBH eighty nine point seven FM in Boston. I have a theory that if everybody like jazz wouldn't have any problems

because it's a very people music and it doesn't matter who you are, what you look like or what you believe in, how much money is in your pocket. You have a common thread that is the people. And and that's the absolute fact as far as I'm concerned.