I woke up from a dream a few nights ago at 2:30am. I was in a room full of beat up pianos, running around them playing a multiple piano version of "Sweet Georgia Brown." I finished the last few bars as I ran and slid into place at the final piano like I was stealing second base. Uncle Lionel Batiste was sitting close by the last piano. We spoke and then I woke up. I couldn't go back to sleep. I found myself missing New Orleans more than usual, so I headed to the couch to watch some videos of my friends making New Orleans music.
My mother would always take me around to perform at nursing homes. (Thanks Mom!) I learned a lot of popular songs from the early 20th century this way. Eventually as my childhood ran into my young adulthood I found myself employed at a nursing home as an activities director. I spent my lunch hour at the piano playing all the hits for the residents waiting to be served their lunch.A lot of them would sing along. There was one song in particular where just about everything would stop. It was so overpowering that for the last chorus I would stop playing and just listen to all these people singing this song. It really was something.
The song was "Let Me Call You Sweetheart"
When I arrived at Berklee in the mid-90s, I felt that a lot of those songs I learned were not really all too popular on campus. So I pivoted to the music of Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Jaki Byard, etc. But I never really forgot my experience at the nursing homes.
A decade or two after Berklee I found myself living in New Orleans. As I walked the streets I started to hear the music I had learned at the nursing homes all those years ago. It was played with a groove connected to the earth and the river. A profound language speaking to the people who came from all over the world to listen to this music being played by masters on the streets.
What gratitude I have for the musicians who brought this music back to me in such a surprising and beautiful way! What a marvel.
This is my dearly departed friend Rickey Paulin and our friends from Jackson Square performing "Let Me Call You Sweetheart" back in 2018 in Gainesville, FL.
Rickey Paulin - clarinet/vocals
Dwayne Burns - trumpet
Elliott "Stackman" Callier - saxophone
Mark "Tuba" Smith - sousaphone
Reginald Steward - trombone
Malcolm Morris - bass drum, cymbal
Dewon "Itchy" Scott - snare drum
Paul Kemnitz - guitar
Michael Ward-Bergeman - accordion
Produced by Michael Ward-Bergeman ©2020 Bergeman Family Productions
