MARCUS MILLER FT. SELAH SUE, DEN ATELIER 06/12/2018

Acclaimed jazz bassist Marcus Miller came to play at Den Atelier tonight. Collaborations with the likes of Luther Vandross, Chaka Khan, Herbie Hancock, Eric Clapton, Aretha Franklin, George Benson, Elton John, Miles Davis and Bryan Ferry, to name but a few, have earned him legendary status in the modern jazz world. Player Magazine includes him on its list of ten most influential jazz players of this generation.
Tonight he came to showcase his latest work “Laid Black” and brought with him the featured artist and one of our Belgian neighbours, Selah Sue.
I braved the roadworks of Rue Hollerich to attend the sold out show and was met by an older than usual crowd, couples mainly, jazz people, “jazz” in whispered, intellectual tones. I thought immediately of my dad, how he'd taken me to see Buddy Rich when I was a young teenager, how I'd had to finish my beer too quickly and vomited in the street and he'd told me not to tell my mum. These were my whispered memories of jazz.
Proud to collect my press pass, new to the job, I sauntered in and positioned myself close to the press gang. They knew each other, I was the new boy. Finally in the pit, band on stage, funking bass, muted trumpet, Davis style, howling sax horn, I was having all kinds of trouble with my camera, couldn't see properly, didn't know how to switch off the flash, tutted at by my new peers, forced to use my phone instead. The driving beat, excitement, thoughts of my dad and my son's jazz exam this afternoon and my fucked up camera skills.
I left before Selah Sue arrived.
When I got home, I took three small slips of paper and on each one, I wrote something that I was grateful for, then I put them in a jar and went to bed.