Happy Feet Friday

Marian McPartland and company perform “Things Ain't What they Used to Be”.

I actually met Ms. McPartland on a few occasions. The British-born pianist eventually settled in the United States, and she was a friend of Mr. Jimmy Burns – music director for the town of Cary's public schools, and one of the finest educators and human beings I have ever known. Whenever she was in the area, Mr. Burns would arrange for Ms. McPartland to come by, and she would bring a couple of accompanists (guitar and bass) and play for us in the band room. She would end the session by challenging the students to throw her four or five musical notes at random, and she and her colleagues would improvise a little jazz exercise (no matter how incongruous the notes were when played together in the same melodic line, Ms. McPartland and company somehow always made it work). She was a fine musician and educator, and a wonderfully warm person. Here is some biographical background.