Tin woke up on Sunday morning and said he wanted needed to go to the French Quarter. It was an extraordinarily beautiful day and so we packed up the pocket trumpet and headed out to find him a pick up gig. We had to drop off a baseball glove at Muriel’s so we ended up in Jackson Square, where there is usually a brass band playing, but instead there was a guy and a gal playing old pop tunes like Doobie Brothers Give me the beat boys. They guy sounded pretty good so we sat down and Tin took his trumpet out of the case, but he had a look on his face and he tried to get the groove but he couldn’t and he finally said, “Too loud,” as if let’s move on. So we were heading towards the Mint to see the Preservation Hall Jazz photo exhibit, when he heard jazz playing over in another courtyard closer to the River and he pulled us in that direction.
He stood in front of the band, assessing, unzipping his case, and taking out his trumpet but feeling a trepidatious, when the leader came over and asked him if he wanted to join in. Yes indeed. The leader of the Neo Jazz Collective ended up being the father of the three talented children playing and he offer to teach and mentor Tin. (btw: the tip jar kept filling up as everyone loves to see a little boy holding a horn and I can see why – you watch him grooving to the music and all the dreams in the world are contained within that diminutive profile).