Jazz with Aliya and Les McCann

I’ve always wanted to go to the Blue Note Tokyo, but the prohibitive price means that it’s never worth it unless a phenom comes to town. I saw the listing for Soul Survivors, including the great Les McCann on piano (from Les McCann and Eddie Harris, “Swiss Movement”) and Cornell Dupree on guitar with others. I knew Aliya from UCSD would go, so we made reservations and got in. The place was in the very classy Aoyama near Omotesando Doori, like the Champs Elysses of Tokyo. We had gin drinks and some olives, and then showtime! Les was so old and fat that he had to have 2 handlers help him onstage. This added to the suspense- Ruben Gonzales from Buena Vista Social Club was nearly wheeled onstage when I saw them in Tokyo, and he tore the roof off the place. Unfortunately Les McCann had nothing, and even his keyboard sound was the cheesiest 1980s noise. Dupree was great, but the best part of the short night was when Aliya went up to give Les a hug at his table. He cut off the conversation with another girl and Aliya put her arm around him. He was pretty drunk I think (even though Aliya is beautiful) and was carried away with her presence. He asked me where I was from but didn’t really care, saying “Toledo- dat’s too bad.” But he did make me drink his beer and guess what it was. When Asahi wouldn’t do, he said Asahi with 2 shots of vodka… the only way to drink a beer.