The great jazz and blues singer, Joe Williams, was going to be appearing at The Regattabar at the Charles Hotel in Cambridge, MA and, as usual, I did not have the money for tickets. One of the men in the Army National Guard unit I was advising was head of security for the hotel, so he told me that if I showed up in grey slacks and a white shirt, he would give me a security guard blazer and tie so I could be “security” at the Regatta bar and see the show.
So there I was, masquerading as a security guard, enjoying the music (both shows, by the way). After the last show ended, and the customers had left and the busboys were clearing the tables, I have a flash of chutzpah and went up to Joe and introduced myself. I explained that the whole security guard bit was just a scam because I couldn’t afford tickets. I told him that I was a singer myself and had been a fan of his for many years. He laughed, the first of many of those wonderful laughs I was to hear and asked his piano player to hang around a bit and play something for me to sing. I sang “How Deep Is The Ocean” and he smiled and complimented me. And then he called a tune and we sang, exchanging choruses. Song followed song and the next thing we knew it was about 2:30 AM and Joe’s wife came in to send him to bed.
Joe asked what I was doing that night, and when I said I didn’t have an idea, he said, “Come here. I’ll comp you”. And I came, stayed both shows for free and afterwards he and his band and I jammed for about an hour or so. Every night for the rest of the week, this was our routine.
The last night, he told me that he and his wife were staying an extra day before returning to their home in Las Vegas and invited me out to dinner with them.
For the next nine years, whenever Joe came to the Boston area to perform, this was our routine. In between, we spent hours on the phone talking about life, music, songs, musical ideas. He was my teacher, my mentor, my friend.
March 15, 1999, Joe called like always and we talked about his upcoming Regattabar show and where we would go to dinner.
On March 29, 1999, in Las Vegas, Joe Williams died at the age of 80. I try to live up to his standards:
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