Wish I'd Seen 'Em #5 - Grover Washington Jr

@teamfreak16 (43451)
Denver, Colorado
November 1, 2018 5:13pm CST
Wish I'd Seen 'Em. It's a musical series about musicians that I wish I'd seen in concert, as they are now deceased, and I just never got to see them. We are at #5, and today we move from funk into jazz territory: Grover Washington Jr (1943-1999.) Although, thanks to the success of his 1980 Grammy Award-winning album, Winelight, saxophonist Grover Washington Jr is widely credited as a pioneer of smooth jazz, but the man could play it all. Straight jazz, funk jazz, even scoring a pop music crossover hit with "Just the Two of Us." And as good as Washington's albums were, Grover absolutely shined in a live setting. I've seen enough live footage of him that I can vouch. Dude could flat out play! Unfortunately, I never actually got to see him play. The closest I ever came was in the 1980's, when he played Red Rocks here in Denver. I was working in radio at the time, and sometimes, it was just impossible to get a shift off. This was one of those times. A few of my friends went, and they assured me that I missed one hell of a show (actually, they rubbed it in, but the point was that I missed one hell of a show.) I've seen David Sanborn, and I've seen Gerald Albright, great shows both, but Grover would have totally been the highlight of a fantastic modern day jazz saxophonist trifecta. Unfortunately, it never happened. (Info verified by Wikipedia)
- Personnel + Skips 0:00 - ·Grover Washington Jr. (ts) ?1:11 ?9:29 ·Eric Gale (g) ?2:29 ?12:12 ·Richard Tee (fender rhodes key) ?0:19 (intro) ·Paul Griffin (...
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4 responses
@JudyEv (323745)
• Rockingham, Australia
2 Nov 18
What a great shame you didn't get to see him. I think I've told you before that Vince got to see Bob Dylan with Roy Orbison as the support act. At the time you don't always know these people are going to turn out to be big names.
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@JudyEv (323745)
• Rockingham, Australia
4 Nov 18
@teamfreak16 And who would have thought about such an event happening back then?
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@teamfreak16 (43451)
• Denver, Colorado
4 Nov 18
@JudyEv - More than likely nobody, since Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne weren't even around back then. But you never know, the "maybe we should work together sometime" seeds could have been planted then.
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@teamfreak16 (43451)
• Denver, Colorado
2 Nov 18
And in the 80's, they ended up as bandmates in The Travelling Wilbury's!
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• Preston, England
2 Nov 18
real shame you never got to see him - this makes me wish I had too
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@teamfreak16 (43451)
• Denver, Colorado
2 Nov 18
I've watched a lot of his live stuff on You Tube. Some of his solos were mind blowing.
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@FourWalls (61328)
• United States
2 Nov 18
I lost a friend a couple of years ago (he didn’t die, he stopped being my friend) because he thought I was “rubbing it in” that I got t see Warren Zevon and he didn’t. It wasn’t a “You didn’t see him, nah nah nah-nah nah” the way your coworkers apparently were doing to you.....
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@teamfreak16 (43451)
• Denver, Colorado
2 Nov 18
Geez, even I didn't take it that bad!
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@JohnRoberts (109865)
• Los Angeles, California
2 Nov 18
You can't see them all.
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@teamfreak16 (43451)
• Denver, Colorado
2 Nov 18
I know, but it would be nice if I could!
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