Stevie Wonder is currently on a world tour and, last night, gave a concert in Beijing, China. At the end of the gig, he received a standing ovation, which lasted for a good few minutes. In the front row a man called out, "A jazz chord! A jazz chord!" So Stevie played a brilliant five-minute improvised jazz solo on the piano. When he was finished, he received another rapturous standing ovation, which lasted for over five minutes. Bunches of flowers were thrown onstage and a small girl ran on to present him with a teddy bear. The same man in the front row called out again, this time louder and more demanding: "No, no! I want a jazz chord! A jazz chord!" Slightly bewildered by the high demands of his Chinese audience, Stevie assumed his previous encore had not been jazzy and creative enough, so he sat down at the piano again and this time improvised a full ten-minute jazz solo to accompany his scat-singing. This sent the audience into orbit - wild with delight. They stood up on their seats and screamed with joy. It took them almost 15 minutes to calm down. By this time Stevie was exhausted with all his bowing and waving, and his cheeks ached from smiling so much. When the noise died down a little, that same man in the front row called out again: "No, no, no! You don't understand. I want you to play 'A Jazz Chord to Say I Love You'!"
Source: my new housemate, Dafydd Elis.
:)
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