At the recent event, his colleagues, friends and fans came out to remember him and his work at the sold-out TPAC, formerly the Baptist Temple building at the North Broad Street campus.
The amount of star power on the stage was awe-inspiring, as the celebration, hosted by WRTI’s J. Michael Harrison, featured saxophone superstars Najee and Gerald Albright, along with electric bass phenom Gerald Veasley, guitarist Richard Lee Steacker, percussionist Pablo Batista, drummer Steve Wolf, keyboardist Donald Robinson and versatile vocalist Jean Carn, with musical direction by three-time Emmy Award-winning composer Billy Jolly.
The stellar horn section included Brent White (trombone), Carl Cox (saxophone) and Mike Jarosz (trumpet).
With Grover Washington’s widow Christine and his family in attendance, the performance began with a short documentary titled “Philly Celebrates Grover,” presented by the Philadelphia Jazz Project, and what followed was a diverse cavalcade of musical gems from his extensive catalog, beginning with “Paradise,” “Sassy Stew” and “Black Frost.”
As expected, Jean Carn received a warm welcome from the audience as she — accompanied by background vocalists Suzanne Burgess and La’trese Jones-Epps — delivered the Burt Bacharach-Hal David classic, “The Look of Love.” She fearlessly traded licks with Gerald Albright before interpreting the Phyllis Hyman classic, “Sacred Kind of Love.”
For his part, Bill Jolly was quite charismatic on the keyboards, directing the band, dancing as if no one was watching and sharing personal stories of his time with Washington.
We saw the human side of show business when Najee couldn’t find his music for Bob’s Marley’s “Jammin’,” and was reluctant to put on his glasses while he searched for it. Playfully taunting his colleague, mischievous Albright played the theme from “Jeopardy” while the audience waited, but when Najee finally found his music, the finished product was more than worth the wait.
After a brief intermission, the evening gained even more momentum, with the band delivering an engaging cover of “Soulful Strut,” and Carn returning to delight the audience with her hit “Closer Than Close.” The classics continued with “Winelight,” as well as “Sausalito,” which featured a blazing percussion battle between Batista and Wolf. Jolly contributed lead vocals to “Just the Two of Us,” which was followed by “Let It Flow,” Washington’s loving tribute to Dr. J, and a highlight of the evening was a long, jaw-dropping solo by Gerald Veasley that wrecked the room, and left the crowd screaming as if they were at a football game.
The show came to a fitting climax with “Mr. Magic,” and as Mrs. Washington was presented with a lovely bouquet of flowers.
Veasley said of their departed friend, colleague and mentor: “He did not bring us together for us to go our separate ways.”