A Night of Pure Gold By R.C. Trice I had the privilege of being enraptured by a wonderful jazz concert in a somewhat unusual setting in Mill valley this Summer. Toots Thielemans, long standing master of the jazz chromatic harmonica performed with jazz pianist Kenny Werner, author of the book, Effortless Mastery. Toots and Kenny regularly tour Europe performing together. The concert in Mill Valley took place in a modern church with a high ceiling and great acoustics. The intimate audience of under 500 sat on three sides of the performers . . . almost theater in the round and marveled to the musical magic performed by these seasoned jazz veterans. The program was a mix of repertoire and wonderful improvisation and the audience was more sharing in the ongoing musical conversation between the two performers than listening to a concert. The intimacy of the space was strongly felt by all and by the time the evening was over, we all felt we had been transported. This effect was strongly enhanced by the 12' tall murals of E.J. Gold. In the background on all the surrounding walls and standing tall behind the performers, these spontaneous zen soul portraits of past jazz giants seemed to be bearing witness to the proceedings from an 'essence' place. In a conversation with Toots about his fifty year plus career, he told me that people often come up to him after a concert and tell him they like the way he played 40 years ago and why doesn't he still play that way? He told me that he responds to them with the idea that change is all part of the process and that the most important thing to him is that even after over fifty years of performing, his music stays fresh. Toots, at 83 is well loved by almost everyone in the music business and has played with just about everyone and every style of music. And judging by his performance that evening in Mill Valley had not seemed to have lost his energy or his edge. During the concert, Toots expressed his gratitude to Kenny Werner, who seems to keep him on his musical toes and it was easy to hear why. Kenny, a wonderful keyboard man and author of the book, 'Effortless Mastery', about how to approach mastery of the piano, or anything for that matter, threw Toots musical curveballs that Toots very adeptly returned . . . complete with musical jokes. It sounded as though these wel- matched players' musical conversation had been going on for years. Jazz and art are like gold. Living in the Gold Country of California, I've often heard old miners say, "Well son, gold is where you find it." And we sure found gold that evening. R.C. Trice is a jazz harmonica player and a jazz artist. He also interviewed Wynton Marsalis for HEI. His work is on tour with HEI Jazz Art.