Hello All!
I saw Ramsey Lewis' and Peter White's performances at
Dayton's 5th Annual
Jazz at the Bend Festival on September 2, 2000. The other acts on the bill
were vocalist Eliza Gomez Taylor, vocalist Phil Perry, and saxophonist Ron
Brown. I had not originally planned to attend this year's event. It
was a
very last minute thing. Someone had given my brother tickets and he called
me late Saturday asking me if I wanted to go. My brother and I arrived in
time to see Peter White setting up on this rainy day in Dayton, Ohio.
As my brother and I were setting up our seats, Peter was apologizing for not
having his acoustic guitar. I did not catch why, but he said he borrowed
someone's electric guitar and it had been a while since he 
played
one. By
his performance, you could not tell. I really enjoyed his performance.
He
played tunes from his Perfect Moment release, including Midnight in
Manhattan in which he paid homage to the late Grover Washington, Jr. He
also did a medley of tunes from Dayton's Ohio Players, including Roller
Coaster. That got the crowd going. I was impressed with the fact
that
Peter and his bassist stepped down from the stage and came to the people.
Peter really worked the crowd and played to the little children who came up
to him. I even got up and danced a bit. Peter closed his show by telling
the crowd to please visit his website, www.peterwhite.com.
Then came Ramsey Lewis and his trio's turn. My brother and I moved our
chairs closer to the stage. It had always been a dream of mine to see
Ramsey Lewis 
perform
in person. Mr. Lewis is the epitome of eloquence. His
set was of the traditional mode, which included him on piano, an up-right
bassist, and percussionist. Ramsey played a wide range of tunes from
Gershwin to Earth, Wind, and Fire. He closed out his set playing a medley
of tunes which included his hit from the 1960s, Wade in the Water, and
Willow Weep for Me.
I wished I could have seen the other acts, but considered myself fortunate
to see Ramsey Lewis and Peter White, because I did not think I would attend
any concerts this year. I did visit Peter White's web site and posted my
comments about his show. A few days later, I received an e-mail from Peter
thanking me for my kind comments. I thought that was pretty cool!
Debbie