Hugh Fraser has died

Many of you won't know who he is, but in Canada, he is probably the most highly regarded jazz musician.  He played the trombone, the piano and drums, was the leader of a number of jazz groups, and a prolific composer.

But this is a personal story.  Some of you know that David played the trombone.  He played in the Salt Spring Island Orchestra, but his joy was playing in Swing Shift, the jazz group on the Island.  Hugh Fraser was out of Victoria, but came to Salt Spring one summer to give master classes to Swing Shift.  David was thrilled at the prospect of learning to improvise, something he had never done.  They all loved Hugh, and felt like they learned so much.

By this time, David was already sick with the cancer which would shortly kill him.  But he desparately wanted to do his trombone solo in the upcoming concert.  And he did.  I saw Hugh with his hands on his trombone, ready to take over if needs be.  But he didn't have to, and David was brilliant.

It was his last concert.

I went to one of Hugh's concerts in Victoria several years after David's death.  I went back stage to tell him how much his time on Salt Spring had meant to David.  When he asked after David's health, and I told him that he had died, Hugh burst into tears - as, of course, did I.

Hugh Fraser died on Wednesday of cancer.  He was 62.  I am hugely saddened, but grateful to have this wonderful memory of his musicality and his generosity of spirit. 

June has come and halfway gone, and still she hasn't written.....

Sorry, folks.  As so often happens, the time got away from me.

It's not as though I'm so busy, but I didn't want to bore you.  Really, what is more boring than listening to a contented person.  Well, maybe listenening to a dopehead tell you about his acid trip.  (It, of course, hasn't happened to me for a long time, but I still remember the excruciating boredom.....)

What can I tell you?  The more things change, the more they stay the same?  You no doubt already know that, but I did find this interesting.  While walking, I often listen to books on tape, and have recently completed The Path to Power by Robert Caro.  It is one of 4 parts to the biography of Lyndon Johnson (the fourth still being written, I believe - correct me if I'm wrong - and Mr. Caro must be a very old man by now).  It is an old book, and I'm sure those of you who are historians out there have already read it.  The point is, Johnson came from the hill country of Texas, a place that remained without electrticity after most of the rest of the country had it.  One of Johnson's first accomplishments was getting authorization for a hydro electric dam through Congress.  Even then, the power utilities often didn't want to, without the payment of exhorbitant fees, extend the lines to farms a mere 50 years off their grid.  As I'm reading this, I am hearing about all the places in Canada without access to high speed internet - or indeed, internet at all.  ...Well, as I said, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Our infected and dying numbers are down in British Columbia, and we are slowly, slowly opening up.  So, we are starting - carefully - to visit.  Friend Debbie came over for what turned out, accidentally, to be a birthday dinner.  And I enjoyed a drink in  the cockpit of a friends boat, at an appropriate distance, of course.  And John and Dennis and I actually went out for a drink at Earls the other day....

Normally, of course, I would have had the waitress take a picture of the three of us, but noone wants to touch someone else's phone or camera, so you'll have to make due with Dennis and John.  And note the space between groups in this very popular drinking spot....  Who knows how - or if - these places will survive...

John, a neighbor, I have been seeing throughout; he drops off the Economist every week, and I see him often when I am out walking and he is on a run or a bike ride.  But Dennis I haven't seen for the three months I have been in Vancouver, and it was great to experience the chemistry among us again.

I had heard Dennis though, if not seen him.  Friend and fourth of our bridge group, Tom, had arranged for the four of us to play bridge on line, while chatting (I said chatting, not cheating) on a conference call.  Once we all got the hang of it, it was great fun, and we are making a weekly thing of it.  Lots of laughs, but good bridge too.

What else is new?  A few more technological advnces.  I finally got a step tracker downloaded on my phone.  I know, I know, every one else has had them for ages.  I poo-pooed it, but you know, it is fun to keep track, and I am actually doing well.

And I have downloaded a classical music app.  It not only has music, but podcasts about music as well.  I know, I know, again I am late to the party.  But the pandemic has apparently brought a lot of people around to trying things they had meant to do for ages, and I do think I will enjoy this immensely.

So I'm branching out with my knitting too.  Still with socks and gloves, but ever more complex patterns and textures.  And branching out in my reading as well.  (You sure learn about your friends from their book recommendations....)  Brian brought me over two of the strangest books I have ever read....  One is a novel called Shakespeare's Dog, by Leon Rooke.  Actually, it is not quite truthful to say that I read this one.  I was intrigued by the premis, that is, a book written from the point of view of, well, Shakespeare's dog.  Suffice it to say, I didn't get very far.  The other was a book called Bear, by Marian Engel.  It is truly an only in Canada book, about a woman living for a short while in the back of beyond, and how she developed a relationship with, well, a bear.  This one I did finish - I found it compelling - but I can't claim to have understood it!!!

Tom brought over Josephine Tey's Daughter of Time.  I had, of course, read it years ago, but it was great fun to re-read it.  It brought back that unsettling moment when I first realized that everything you read in a book wasn't true.  The book is about a detective, injured in the course of bringing someone down, convalescing in an English nursing home and dying of boredom  His friends bring him tidbits to entice his curiosity.  The one that ignites his interest is a portrait of Richard III, and the ultimate mystery of whether indeed he did have his nephews in the Tower killed, a la Shakespeare, or not.  I will not spoil the mystery for you, but suffice it to say, I have been skeptical about everything I read since I first read it all these many, many moons ago.  I always ask, when was it written, who was in power, and who stands to gain.....

On a lighter note, Tom brought over three David Sedaris books, Dress your Family in Corduroy and Denim, Me Talk Pretty One Day, and When You are Engulfed in Flames.  I had heard Sedaris on NPR, but never read any of his books.  What a funny, funny man.  I highly recommend him, either by way of Podcast or any of his books.

Finally, the last of Tom`s current offerings is now on my bedside table.  It is Bill Bryson`s book called The Mother Tongue:  English and How it Got That Way.  I have read several of Bryson`s later books on Shakespeare.  He`s  a breezy writer, but knows his stuff, and makes it all - in this case, the development of the English language as we know it- seem like the most important thing in the world, believe it or not, a page turner.

Well, aside from that, still playing bridge on line every day, still walking (see below...)

...... I was fascinated by all the shades of green in what is, really, a mundane front plot of an apartment building...

... and the usual river traffic...

.....and the rare sight of a train on the tracks I cross on my daily walk....

There may actually be some work in my future.  Meanwhile, though, I`m having altogether too good a time....  Hope you are all well.  Be safe....