Philadelphia Pianist JIMMY AMADIE Releases
Live at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
From His First Public Performance Since 1967
Trio Features Bassist Tony Marino and Drummer Bill Goodwin
On
any given day, the Philadelphia Museum of Art can boast any number of
masterpieces by the world's greatest artists, major works by Van Gogh,
Renoir, Picasso, or Dalí. But on October 14, 2011, the iconic museum
hosted the culmination of a life's work by one more master, if only for a
few hours. On that evening, Philly piano great Jimmy Amadie
took the stage for the first time since 1967, 43 years ago, finally
showing an enraptured audience the results of decades of mental
practice.
That landmark performance is captured on Live at the Philadelphia Museum of Art,
which liner-notes writer Neil Tesser calls Amadie's "last will and
testament." If this album, where Amadie is joined by his long-time
rhythm section of bassist Tony Marino and drummer Bill Goodwin,
does mark the pianist's last recording, which is likely given his
long-running struggles with tendonitis and cancer, it's a fitting
monument to an unlikely career. "That was one of the happiest days of my
life," Amadie says of the concert. "It was like a rebirth."
Those familiar with his story can tell you that if anyone knows rebirth, it's Jimmy Amadie. His inspiring story was recently told on screen in Matthew Marencik's 30-minute documentary Get Me a Fight,
which premiered in 2012 at Villanova University in conjunction with the
school's efforts to establish the "Jimmy Amadie Jazz Academy" based on
his educational work.
In
his early years, Amadie shared the stage with legends like bebop
trumpet legend Red Rodney and saxophonist/bandleader Charlie Ventura,
accompanied Mel Tormé for three years and was a member of Woody Herman's
famous Herd. But he was forced off of the bandstand in 1967 by an
extreme form of tendonitis in his hands that derailed his playing career
for decades.
For thirty years he turned his attention to education, taking private students and writing two influential instructional books, Harmonic Foundation for Jazz and Popular Music and Jazz Improv: How To Play It and Teach It.
But he never stopped "practicing," even if his fingers rarely touched a
keyboard. "What you have to know is that I play piano in my head eight
to ten hours a day," Amadie says. "The piano doesn't know it, but I'm
playing."
This former boxer from North Philadelphia is a natural-born fighter,
though, and after several surgeries and plenty of physical therapy he
gradually built his strength to the point where he could get through an
entire tune. Amadie made his recording debut shortly before his sixtieth
birthday.
That first album, Always With Me,
was recorded laboriously between 1994 and 1995, with Amadie taking
sixteen weeks off between each piece. His first trio album was recorded
the same way, with drummer Bill Goodwin and bassist Steve Gilmore
painstakingly adding their parts to Amadie's prerecorded piano tracks.
On each album since, however, Amadie has entered the studio and recorded
the music live with his band-mates, taking months off afterwards for
his hands to heal.
After completing his sixth album, The Philadelphia Story,
which featured the all-star line-up of Benny Golson, Randy Brecker, and
Lew Tabackin, Amadie felt he'd reached a career pinnacle. "After I did
that album," he says, "I figured I can't play better than that. I said
to God, 'I can die in peace.' Now I take it back."
The
portent of those words came clear a few months later when, during a
routine surgery, it was discovered that Amadie was afflicted with lung
cancer. Now, after finally emerging victorious over one lifelong
struggle, he was suddenly faced with another.
"I
can't tell you how devastated I was," he says, "because after all these
years to feel so good about playing, I just couldn't believe that I
could wind up with something else. And I went crazy. I didn't know what
to do."
What he did is what he's always done: fight against the pain. He released two more albums, culminating in the trio date Something Special,
also recorded with Marino and Goodwin. With no special guests to offer
relief from playing, Amadie further damaged his pain-wracked hands. He
continues to suffer the after-effects of that decision, but insists that
the end result is worth it.
He
also continues his battle with cancer, which drove him to the decision
to make his long-delayed return to live performance. "Cancer's a
coward," Amadie has declared on more than one occasion. "He hits you
below the belt, he hits you in the back. I'm gonna throw the punches as
long as I'm here to throw the punches, but he's not making it easy. He
sneaks up on you and he doesn't want to make you sick; cancer's not
gonna stop until he kills you. With me, he's having problems."
His
ailments took their toll on the night of the concert represented on
this, Amadie's ninth album. The pain in his hands, still acute following
the recording of the trio record, flared up in especially ugly fashion
just before the performance. That was compounded by vision problems
caused by medication for his lung cancer which forced Amadie to jettison
the new music he'd spent six months writing but now couldn't read, and
to substitute flash cards with basic instructions for two sets of
standards.
Not
that the audience that filled the museum's marble staircase minded.
Amadie was welcomed back to the public eye with a rousing and emotional
ovation. "I'm not showing off that I can play through pain," Amadie
insists. "As far as I'm concerned, once I sit down to play, I'm going to
play the best that I can. I'm out there to play because I believe I
have something to say. This is what's keeping me alive. I have something
better than the pain: passion. Pain can try to stop you but passion
overcomes it."
Live at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Track Listing:
1. There Is No Greater Love (Isham Jones, Marty Symes)
2. On Green Dolphin Street (Bronisalu Kaper, Ned Washington)
3. Here's That Rainy Day (Jimmy VanHeusen, Johnny Burke)
4. Softly As The Morning Sunrise (Sigmund Romberg, Oscar Hammerstein II)
5. This Can't Be Love (Richard Rogers, Lorenz Hart)
6. Secret Love (Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster)
7. Summertime (George Gershwin, DuBose Heyward)
8. My Funny Valentine (Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart)
9. Just In Time (Jule Stein, Betty Comden, Adolph Green)
10. I'm Getting Sentimental Over You (George Baseman, Ned Washington)
11. All The Things You Are (Jerome Kern, Oscar Hammerstein II)
12. 52nd Street Theme (Thelonious Monk)
Jimmy Amadie· Live at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
TP Recordings · Release Date: August 13, 2013
For more information on Jimmy Amadie, please visit: JimmyAmadie.com
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