mccoy tyner

oh my god, people. i saw mccoy tyner last night at the highline. THE mccoy tyner. the pianist on basically every legendary coltrane album that was ever recorded. i'm still in shock, actually. check out his discography here. my favorite things? live at the village vanguard? a love supreme? JOHN COLTRANE AND JOHNNY HARTMAN!!!! GAH! he's just totally ridiculous and i'm going to remember this concert for the rest of my life. the music is so smooth off his fingers. and easy and i kept closing my eyes to get lost in the music and then would say, "jasmine! open your eyes! you can sit and listen to music with your eyes closed at home! soak this shit in!" he's kind of turtle-esque and i wanted to put him in my pocket to bring him home. his voice is a deep, quiet raspy one and when he makes jokes it's easy to miss the punchline because of it's low tone. and then he played with his trio and gary bartz on the sax (who has played with miles and mingus, again, GAH!). just totally insane. and the bassist gerald cannon was phenomenal. and the highline ballroom? an awesome space. they had some fog machines going as well to feign a smoky atmosphere that mostly worked. i felt transported.

jon batiste band opened. jon is 22, and the whole band seemed to be under the age of 25. many of them quite cute too, fwiw. i liked them but jon sang a few songs. he has a nice voice but the singing had no soul, no depth AND he was flat more than he was on key for the entire first two songs. it was confusing. but the guy is clearly a prodigy and i'd still recommend catching him if you're ever in the same town as him.

headed to vegas this weekend with colin. my birthday is sunday so i'm going to try to find some phat restaurant to eat at that night. the problem is really choosing which one. suggestions?