Claude Black says a few words of appreciation to friends, fans and colleagues who attended a fund-raiser Tuesday night to help pay his medical bills.
The jazz world is like a family — everybody knows and cares about each other, especially in a city the size of Toledo.
And like a family, there is a lot of love, for both the people and the music that brings them together.
Tonight, hundreds of jazz fans from throughout northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan jammed into the University of Toledo’s Performing Arts Center – which never seemed so small before — to show their love and support for Claude Black, the local legend on jazz piano.
Black, 79, has been having health problems over the last few months. He was hospitalized just before Christmas for failing kidneys, and has suffered a relapse of cancer and is now undergoing chemotherapy. Like many jazz artists, he doesn’t have health insurance. And chemo and hospital stays sure don’t come cheap.
The benefit concert was held in the university’s Performing Arts Center, which seats just 275, because the UT faculty jazz ensemble had already scheduled a show tonight in that venue. With tickets sold only at the door, there was no way of predicting the turnout. But Black’s “family” turned out en masse. After every seat was filled, extra chairs were brought in. Yet several hundred people were still left stranded in the lobby.
To accommodate the overflow, UT jazz saxophonist and concert organizer Gunnar Mossblad announced that there would be two sets. After the first set, the hall would be cleared and the patient fans in the lobby would be admitted for a second show.
When Black entered the room, he was pushed in a wheelchair, which was ironic considering it was standing-room only and everyone who had a seat was standing and applauding as the jazz ace rolled down the aisle. When he stepped out of the wheelchair, he looked so spry you would never guess he was ill. And, as always, Black was dressed to the nines, looking classy in a tuxedo.
He expressed his gratitude to the people and the city of Toledo, saying that he’s been living here “on and off” for 50 years and is still discovering new and beautiful places in the city.
Then he treated his faithful fans to a song, sitting at the Steinway grand piano and launching into the elegant and delicate ballad, “A Time for Love,” which he recorded live at the Toledo Museum of Art’s Peristyle in 2000. Someone shouted “We love you Claude,” and the crowd applauded its accord. Black then took a seat in the audience and enjoyed some high-flying jazz by a number of university and other jazz local artists.
Among those who performed were Mossblad, Jay Weik, Ron Brooks of Ann Arbor, Jeff Halsey, Brad Sharp, Tad Weed, and George Davidson. Ernie Krivda brought his tenor sax and a bodacious hat all the way from Cleveland. Black’s longtime musical partner, bassist Clifford Murphy, was in the house but didn’t get up on the stage, at least not in the first set.
Halsey, a bass virtuoso and faculty member at Bowling Green State University, shared a few words about how he met Black more than 30 years ago when he was 21 and living in western Michigan. Black hired him for a house band that played six nights a week for more than a year, which was quite an education for Halsey. And it was a gig with Black gig at the former Rusty’s Jazz Café that indirectly led to Halsey’s move to the Toledo area. That’s the way the jazz world helps each other out, especially someone like Black who has always been eager to mentor and encourage young players.
I was a music critic for 10 years, from about 1990 to 2000, and spent many nights listening to Black and bassist Clifford Murphy swing through blistering bebop tunes and then weave majestically through some ballads. With Murphy providing a solid and knowing foundation, Black could blast off like a rocket, turn on a dime, and lead listeners on a musical journey that would never again be repeated.
He is a humble and gentle soul who laughs that the only thing most people take note of when he tells them his career highlights was a two-year gig in Aretha Franklin’s band. Compared to the world-class jazz he has been playing for 50-plus years, that was child’s play. But the name Aretha is magic, and it gets him more r-e-s-p-e-c-t from the average joe than the fact that he held his own on stage with Bird Parker or Wes Montgomery.
Singer-composer Jon Hendricks, the five-time Grammy winner and UT faculty member, sent his regrets tonight, saying he had a previous engagement in New York. But he made Mossblad promise to schedule another benefit in March or April. That is good news for anyone who missed tonight’s benefit concert.
Unlike many of life’s moments, there will be a second chance to show some love to a man who, after giving to others for so many years, now needs a little help from his friends.
