Last week was Alan Bergman's birthday. Alan is a very respected attorney in the music business - a friend to many great musicians, and a swingin' drummer himself. Anyway, I went to the b-day bash, and Alan was playing w/ the Princeton Jazz Quintet, a group that was formed many years ago when all the members were undergrads at Princeton University, and reassembled in recent years. The cats all sounded great. Nice repetoire and arrangements too - "Violets For Your Furs", Neil Hefti's "Cute", "Triste", etc. As a vibist, the big treat for me was vibraphonist Dick Lincoln. This cat can play! Really swingin' and nice lines. Early into his 1st solo of the set, I had the feeling, "Oh, I'm in good hands with this guy". Hard to describe - just a good feeling of being able to relax into the music. He reminds me of some of my faves - Milt, Dave Pike, Lem Winchester, but he's got his own thing. Just great!

The next day I saw Alan and he played me a recording he, Dick Lincoln and pianist John Eaton made w/ Wayne Shorter in 1956 ! ..... a saxophone blindfold test for the ages!!!

Thanks, cats. -JL