Home : Plato's Words : January 2003

January 2003

I had a wonderful Christmas holiday in the serene setting of Jasper, Alberta. On one of the backwoods hikes through freshly fallen snow at the edge of a small frozen lake and surrounded by pines and birches it was so quiet that my ears actually rang with the silence. It seems impossible but there were no birds or other wildlife that day; people and traffic were kilometers away and it was so calm that not even a breeze interrupted the stillness. That was one of the highlights of the vacation in amongst food and drink and family and friends and gifts galore.

The day before leaving for Jasper I performed the Christmas rendition of Jazz Vespers for the third year in a row at St. Andrews Wesley Church in Vancouver. I love performing at Vespers throughout the year but the Christmas one is absolutely special to me. This year we were delighted to have so many friends and acquaintances come out and hear us. Thank you all for coming! Some people who have discovered my love of traditional carols from around the world have promised to share others with me from their birthplace countries. I am really looking forward to discovering new ones yet again and realize it has become quite a hobby of mine; this collecting of Christmas carols and songs.

I was given two Joni Mitchell CD's for Christmas: The first was "TRAVELOGUE" which is her new double release of songs from the past that have been arranged for orchestra. The other CD is "MINGUS", which was released in the 1970's and featured the genius of musicians such as Jaco Pastorius, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock and others. I have always been fascinated by Joni Mitchell's writing especially, the wonderful poetic lyrics that don't simply rhyme, every single time, on every other line…She writes stories of strange characters and songs about imagination and opinion and love and hate and every possible topic. Her melodies are never predictable yet many stay in your head with their hooks intact. I wasn't always such a fan of her voice in her younger days, with that high pitched folk style quality. Now with her lived in, smoky sound, I really enjoy hearing her sing those wonderful tone poem creations and as always marvel at what a talent she really is and has been for so many years.

One of the very sad things that happened in December was that the world lost an incredible talent from the jazz world. BOB BERG was a saxophonist with a real "New York Edge" to his sound. I have loved his music for many years and seeing him perform here during one of our Jazz Festivals was a highlight that I will never forget.
He was killed in a tragic car accident in one of the snowstorms that hit the southern States as he drove the highway with his wife. The thought struck me that he and his wife may have been discussing things such as what to give to their children for Christmas or what they would do on their vacation. Perhaps they discussed ordinary husband and wife things or perhaps they were silent while negotiating the snowstorm when suddenly boom, a trucktrailer jackknifed in front of them killing Bob instantly and throwing his wife from the car.

I was so shocked reading the news simply because it seemed such a cruel twist of events for this vital talented man to die and leave his wife and two children in the fate of that one instant. Of course it made me realize just how precious every moment in our lives truly is. Sometimes I forget that fact but such a tragedy seemed to be a wake up call for me and reminded me not to forget that I must really savor every aspect of my daily life. It sounds morbid but I suppose that really none of us truly can know what is just around the corner and what fate, good or bad has in store for us. Perhaps the way to deal with that fact is too simply soak everything we can out of life, to really taste it's every offering and live life to the fullest and to experience everything that comes our way and learn from those experiences. Perhaps it is really living for the moment and not worrying quite so much about the unknown events of tomorrow. I know we shouldn't live blindly without regard for the future but sometimes we seem to forget that today, even if it seems ordinary and uneventful is in fact a gift to be savored just the same. In this year 2003, I hope I can remember that and be grateful for life itself along with all of its unknowns.
Happy New Year to you all…

Karin