Corey Wallace Music

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Such a beautiful night with the Cats!

We had A TIME!!

📸 : Cara Lorraine / .cara 🙌🏽🙌🏽 thank you so much for capturing these! 🤌🏽

Sir Jack Jeffers afforded me my first gig in NYC with his New York Classics Big Band.

I was so nervous bc I didn’t live here/in NYC and I figured as soon as he found that out, he’d give the gig away to someone else.

So I played it low key, took a MegaBus up from Baltimore, and sight-read and played my ass off as best I could…met Camille Thurman - Green, Terry L. Greene II, Sam Burtis🕊️, Kevin Bryan🕊️, Shareef Clayton, and quite a few others that night…I left thinking, damn everybody in NYC is so amazing!!!

Sir Jack Jeffers, of course, asked me what part of town I lived in at intermission, and I confessed I came up from Baltimore…he laughed and said “well
I’m glad you did, looks like you’re someone I need to know, but make sure you get home safely, and come back for good. We’ve got work to do!”

He always uplifted me and told me stories about JJ, Slide, Lee Morgan, Basie, and so many of my other my favorite musicians who he knew and with whom he was colleagues; he always dropped gems on staying in NYC, gave me insight about arranging, introduced me to other elders and cats that would be on the gigs or came to his house for rehearsals, checked on me, always shared the realness…

During rehearsals at his house on the UWS, he’d have appetizers, wine, and Hennessy (😅 of which I was a big fan at that time, as was he 😆)….and he ALWAYS paid cats $5 for making it to rehearsals, which was ALWAYS in a small mannilla envelope on the stand waiting for you…. he made me understand, it was the smallest token of appreciation for making the effort and helping him sift through the music to get it ready.

I also always thought it beautiful how highly he spoke of Ms. Cynthia, his wife, who was also present at the gigs and rehearsals.

He taught me so much about this music by being present, sticking around and living through the music, sharing and passing on. 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽

I am yet another who Sir Jack Jeffers did so much for, and am indebted to his giving spirit.

Rest in Power, SJJ.