A star in my truck

The Main Ingredient; Shirley Horn, piano and vocals

Frequently, since arriving on the scene in the Washington DC/Baltimore area, my friend A.D. has invited me to play piano in his band for receptions, parties, festivals and the like. A.D. plays magnificent jazz drums and maintains a sizable list of personnel who fill out his band.

Once, while preparing to leave for a job with A.D., he called just a few moments before going out the door. “I’ve had to make a saxophone change. The guy that I had slated to play tonight has the flu. So I’ve asked another guy named Buck Hill to fill in and he was kind enough at the very last minute to help me out. He’s getting ready for the gig right now. He’s kind of old and fuzzy, but I’m sure that we’re going to have a great time playing with him. He’s retired from the postal service and doesn’t like to drive at night. His apartment sits about two blocks off of your route to the gig. Could you pick him up and then take him home when we’re done tonight?” Sure. No prob.

Mr. Hill didn’t have an awful lot to say in the Durango on the way to the job but he was kind and enjoyed the CD’s that I played on the way to and from the gig. A.D. hit the nail on the head. Buck played magnificently and soulfully. More than likely the bride and groom, and their guests, engaged themselves in other aspects of the wedding reception, little noticing the quality of the saxophone playing. Little matter. The rest of us enjoyed Mr. Hill’s playing immensely.

On the way home, I put in a Shirley Horn CD. Buck asked me if I liked Shirley Horn. I gave a resounding “Yes!” And all the way back to his apartment, the inimitable Ms. Horn serenaded us with twenty-five mile per hour tunes with Debussy-esque chords that made the moon shine a little brighter, made the snow glint a little frostier, made the lamp-posts skitting through the leafless trees flicker a little more rhythmically.

Ms. Horn recorded “The Main Ingredient” in her northeast Washington home in 1995. While she let the recording engineers do whatever they needed to do for the sake of recording in her house (which, by the way, they did over the course of four days), she cooked her famous Beef-and-Beer stew, made with a full can of Heineken and a half pint of Wild Irish Rose wine. She included her recipe on the inside cover of the CD.

When I helped Buck out of my truck and handed him his saxophone, he smiled and said, “I’m glad you like Shirley Horn. She’s a nice lady.” The ice on the sidewalk held the more immediate side of my attention while I helped him remain steady as we shuffled up to the steps. As soon as I got back to the more familiar Route 50, I relaxed a little more and recalled what he said as he got out of my truck.

After I hefted my keyboard into my apartment, on a hunch, I pawed through my Shirley Horn CD’s. Sure enough, smack dab in the middle of the cover to “The Main Ingredient”, in the credits, right below the moniker of righteous saxophonist extraordinare Joe Henderson, Buck Hill’s name winked at me. He had helped himself to some Beef-and-beer stew.

Credits: To the honorable workers of the United States Postal Service, for accomplishing a daily hefty task, as “Neither rain, nor snow…..” Thank you.