You have no idea how happy this photo made me.
During the mid 1990s my drum teacher at McGill, Chris McCann, introduced me to the exceptional drumming of Mr. Al Harewood (if you haven't heard Stanley Turrentine's "Up at Minton's" RUN, don't walk to the nearest iTunes store lol and pick this one up!) I had the pleasure of interviewing Al over the phone over the course of three days for a project I was writing for Kevin Dean's performance practice course. I've got hours of our conversations together on cassette somewhere. He was very gracious with sharing his life experience and flattered that I was even interested in what he did.
Last I heard, Al had been spending most of his time in Barbados and according to vocalist Cici Duke was a highly respected elder musician on the island. I wasn't even sure if Al was even with us anymore. So I'm thrilled to see that Mr. Al Harewood (or "Mr. Tip" as he is known in jazz drumming circles) recently celebrated his 90th birthday in the company of the world's greatest jazz drummers at a party held at Don Sickler's loft.
Happy Birthday Mr. Harewood! (and thank you Billy Drummond for posting this photo via the Facebook.)
I had no idea today was his birthday. Thanks so much for posting this Jon.
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