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Written by Jonathan Casey
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Tuesday, 06 April 2004 |
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Page 2 of 2  Joining Mr. Donaldson were Dr. Lonnie Smith (in his trademark turban), Fukushi Tainaka on drums, and guitarist Randy Johnston. It was an impressive group, but Lonnie Smith stole the show with his caterwauling and his wild organ playing. It was hard to connect the man offstage (walking with a cane and a slight hunch, greeting me with a polite "how ya doin'?" as he passed by) with the madman onstage, keeping up the bassline with his feet, pounding out rhythm and solos with both hands and singing off-key all the while. Lou Donaldson, now in his seventy-seventh year, was still in strong form, leaning on a lot of slow to mid-tempo numbers but still able to let fly when the spirit took him. He cracked jokes between songs and even sang us a little blues, improvising on the spot. I was excited just to be in the same room where John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Bill Evans, and others cut some legendary records, but was treated to a fine show by an elder statesman on top of it all. Note: the Vanguard suffers from a significant subway noise problem and some bad sightlines (depending on where you're sitting).
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