Sustainable Jazz: Waltz For Ruth

Climate Cabaret has a jazz component, specifically the Sustainable Jazz Ensemble, a group I compose for and lead. Keyboardist Phil Orr played music before and after our Climate Cabaret debut back in March, 2015, and I joined him on sax for a rendition of Waltz for Ruth just before the show began. Google "Waltz for Ruth" and you discover that bassist Charlie Haden wrote a Waltz for Ruth dedicated to his wife. My Waltz for Ruth is part of a trilogy I wrote prior to traveling to Cleveland to be at my mother's bedside during the last day of her life. I played the melody for her on the clarinet I had taken along, not knowing if she could actually hear it because she was unconscious the whole time. Something of her upbeat nature comes out in the melody.

Reposted from SustainableJazz.com.