Mediocre Photos from a Flawless Day [*UPDATED]

The Beast never pretended to be a photo nut, but we were taking notes Sunday at the benefit for ailing L.A. pianist Nate Morgan when drummer Cornell Fauler, who was dueting with flautist Joel Ector, hit his snare so hard that the mallet flew out of his hand he split his tympani stick in half, the broken part of which soared about 20 feet in the air over a back fence into an adjoining yard. We thought, Holy shit! If only we had our camera out. We proceeded to put our notebook away and just let the images flow. (NOTE: We left out the accidental shots of our own feet and random people's crotches.)

[*UPDATE: Our friend Starlady1 and her Community101 YouTube channel have now posted several sets from the day-long benefit featuring Wadada Leo Smith, Dwight Trible, John Beasley, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Raspoet Ojenke, Azar Lawrence, Kamau Daa'ood, Phil Ranelin and more!]

The guards at the KRST Unity Center

Azar Lawrence & friends

Chet Hanley watches Azar

Azar flew in from NYC for this!

Ras Poet Ojenke reads a tribute to Nate

Wayne Peet runs sound

Rudolph Porter!

Kammau Daa'ood & Philomine Morgan

The Michael Session Sextet

Dwight Trible & KPFK's Mark Maxwell

watch the Phil Ranelin Ensemble

Michael Session listens to Trevor Ware

LeRoy "The Jazzcat" Downs writes a note to Nate

Shades of Mrafu

Jesse Sharps gives Carl Randall directions

Don Littleton schlepping the gear

(popular musician pastime)

Rickey Woodard & Fritz Wise

The musicians gather

The Next Generation

Maestro Jesse Sharps (in blue Obama shirt) leads

the Guten Morgan Big Band

Jesse ponders, conducts Nate's "UGMAAGERS"

 

YEAH!

Finale!

[For a more writerly account of the 5 1/2-hour concert,

check out out our pal Greg Burk's review here.]

Lastly if not leastly, here's something we found on YouTube, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan live in Central Park 1974, playing "Tell Me Something Good." If you look closely, you will notice the prodigously Afroed Nathaniel Morgan as one of the pianists:

It's Going To be A Great Day In Watts... (UPDATED*)

SoCal's own Nate Morgan, one of the premier jazz pianists/composers of his generation, suffered a stroke a month before Christmas 2008. Following two previous 2009 benefits for his medical costs -- one in Leimert Park [video below] and the other in Hollywood -- the *KRST Unity Center of Afrakan Spiritual Science (7825 S. Western Ave., L.A. 90047, 323-759-7567) will host a third fundraiser on Sunday, April 22, 2012 (2pm-6pm). Check out the powerhouse roster of musicians slated to perform: Phil Ranelin, Michael Session, Jesse Sharps and the Gathering, Marla Gibbs, Raspoet Ojenke, Nedra Wheeler, Ndugu Chancellor, Carl Randall, Waberi Jordan, Roberto Miguel Miranda, Kamau Daa'ood, Kafi Roberts, Larry Nash, Fundi Lejohn, Randall Fischer, Kamasi Washington and a whole of a hell lot more. For more info, check out the flyer for the benefit here.

Morgan was a cornerstone of Horace Tapscott's Arkestra (it was he who told a teenage Jesse Sharps about this cat named "Horace" and this band he practiced out in front of the Watts Happening coffeehouse) and led the famous late-night jam sessions in the mid-nineties at the 5th St. Dick's Coffeehouse. He spent a few years in the 1970s with Rufus and Chaka Khan and collaborated in the early 90s with rappers Bone Thugs N' Harmony. He is also one of the best-kept secrets of Los Angeles jazz -- the walking definition of the oft-used phrase "musician's musicians." Besides his frequent residencies at the now-shuttered Charlie O's jazz club in Van Nuys, Morgan most often popped up in a private home salons in Encino given by writer/historian Mimi Melnick, spinning his intoxicatingly fluid.style (heavily influenced by Stanley Cowell and McCoy Tyner) on a prime-condition 1922 Steinway with the likes of Miranda, Session, Wheeler, Arthur Blythe, John Heard, Charles Owens, Onaje Murray and the late great Sonship Theus. Morgan provided some of the salon's best moments, including a memorable "double piano" duet with Elias Negash and a 2-hour solo performance that many who attended consider the best live show they have ever seen, especially when Morgan played his ode to the late Horace Tapscott, "Tapscottian Waltz," a song that has never been recorded. "I think it's one of the most beautiful compositions I've ever heard--and the way he played it that day, everybody was crying," writer Steven Isoardi recalls. "I had to get up and leave. I was pacing in the front room. It was just too overwhelming."

For a taste of the master, check out his Nimbus West CDs Journey To Nigrita and Retribution, Reparation. (Also look into Sharps & Flats, his collaboration with lifelong friend, woodwind player Jesse Sharps.