Michel Camilo:

WOW. I have to be the luckiest girl on earth when it comes to jazz concerts. Every concert I go to gets better than the last. This man is... BAD ASS, for the lack of a more sophisticated description. I've never seen anything like it. No one plays the piano the way he does - he was literally whacking the keys at full strength AND speed as he played his compositions with different twists - jazz, latin jazz and classical, in his own dynamite way. (see Calle 54, the Latin jazz documentary and you'll get what I mean)

Tunes that caught my heart are his more sedate ones - such perfect aural bliss: The Magic in You and Twilight Glow [Real Audio]

The concert had 3 parts - one by the Michel Camilo Trio, one by the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra, and the last by the two. The last part was p-h-e-n-o-m-e-n-a-l in every single way. Camilo would be conducting and playing the piano at the same time, sometimes jumping around the stage, over speakers to do both just in time. The set opened with One More Once , with percussionist Eguie Castrillo. When I say percussionist, he's more like the human sound-effects-library. This rotund, genie-looking man (dressed in a kaftan-y tunic thing and a huge gold hoop on each ear) made of a whole sonic rainforest from whistles, bunch of coconut shells, chacha and a bunch of his sound props. Oh and he plays the bongos.

Thx much to Yao, who waited 1.5 hrs in the concert hall to get us front row seats.

Bonus: the very, very cute alto saxophonist in the big band...kakoii!!! He played really well too. @,@ Yao went to ask for his autograph afterwards and dragged me along so the hottie can sign my ticket *giddy laughter*