Bill Kirchner: Evening of Indigos

Saxophonist Bill Kirchner was on a roll in 1993. He had studied with saxophonist Lee Konitz, pianist Harold Danko and arranger Mike Crotty. He was leading a nonet that recorded several albums. His arrangements had been recorded by Konitz, Dizzy Gillespie and Patti Austin. And he had annotated numerous projects for a range of major labels. But that year, Bill was diagnosed with a non-malignant but life-threatening tumor in his spinal cord. The tumor was removed after two major surgeries, but he was left with no feeling in his hands and only two working fingers in his right hand, a pronounced limp, and chronic pain.

A physical setback of this magnitude would have sidelined most artists, transforming them from optimistic hard-drivers to angry souls bitter about their condition and the unfairness of life. Instead, Bill redoubled his efforts and refused to let his pain or physical disabilities undercut his passion for jazz, education or performance. In the years since his operations, Bill won a group Grammy in 1996 for Best Album Notes for Miles Davis and Gil Evans: The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings in 1996; he completed editing The Oxford Companion to Jazz, a cinderblock-sized book published in 2000 that features essays by leading jazz writers detailing the history of the music; he recorded several albums with the help of a specially designed soprano sax that allows him to play with his only two working fingers; and he continued to teach in the jazz program at the New School—despite the hours of commuting by subway at his crab-like pace.

I have long admired Bill for kicking bad luck to the curb and for ignoring the hurdles that would have defeated most of us. Whenever I've felt that my workload was nearing the impossible, I've asked myself whether Bill would feel the same way. At which point I purge such doubts and just get it done. Bill is a model for us all.

Case in point: Bill's latest album, An Evening of Indigos (Jazzheads), a live recording captured last October at New York's New School. I first wrote about the concert here. Bill was accompanied by singer Holli Ross, singer/bassist Jim Ferguson and pianist Carlton Holmes. The music is extraordinary, not because of the challenges Bill faces but because the music is heartfelt, soulful and fearless.

JazzWax clip: Here's a video of the entire concert...