On Saturday, the rehearsal for my concert was rough. I had suffered an upset stomach the evening before, and I was very shaky and could hardly stand up during rehearsal. Fortunately the band knew their stuff and we got through it just fine. I just went to bed afterwards to rest. I had to be fit for the show on Sunday. I was the last act to close down the festival and wanted to make sure that everybody stayed to the end and danced. Paul Taylor had joined me on “Pacific Coast Highway” at the All-Star concert. So I asked him to sit in on a couple of tunes on my show, to give my set another dimension, which he did. The concert went very well, the sound was good, the band felt solid and the audience was totally into it.
The whole room turned into a party and we had the best of times. I sold every last piece of merchandise I was able to bring, which is always a good indicator, that I reached the audience’s hearts.

The evening after the last show, Christian invited all the musicians and their partners to a wonderful dinner at this rustic old restaurant. The food was fantastic and the atmosphere had something of a family gathering. It summed up the whole experience in a perfect way. It felt we all got a bit closer to our fellow musicians.We shared stories and wine, with Nate (East), Joey Summerville, Gerald Albright, Steve Cole, Gail Johnson, Paul Taylor and Sandy Shore and Donna from smootjazz.com

Now I’m sitting in the lobby, waiting for our shuttle back to the airport.
After a long series of extended goodbyes, we leaving this beautiful place wishing we could stay longer. We took it all in, the music, the location, the beautiful hotel, but it seemed it went by just too fast.