Hearing The Bass

I am approaching what has been the best four years of my life. Well, actually, if you count from the day we met him, its been over four years.  One of the many things I love about this man is the what he kept from me for about 3 months after we me. His music.  He is so nonchalant about it, like everyone can play, but I love it.  I actually use it to determine how mad at him I am.  I call it "hearing the bass".

The first time I heard him play for real was at the Barking Legs Theater.  He called me at work and said, "Hey, Kofi asked me to play with him tonight and I wanted to know if you want to come."  I was thinking, who is Kofi and play what? I don't think he even owned a bass at that time because I remember him saying that Kofi (whoever he was) was going to get a bass for him to play.  I said okay naturally and when he told me where it was that was another shocker because I had never heard of Barking Legs.  Me and a co-worker was trying to figure out this place because I had just met this man and he is asking me to meet him somewhere that was foreign to me.  We started planning our strategy of what she would do if I didn't confirm the place was legit and I wasn't being kidnapped or set up.  Funny, I know but people are coo-coo. Well, I got there and there were more people there so I reported back that I was fine.  We were sitting around and I remember asking about rehearsals but explained to me that he didn't  need to rehearse because he's played these songs before. Now keep in mind, all I have seen is him playing around on AJ's acoustic guitar and he NEVER played a complete song, so I thought he was this self-taught-wannabe guitar player.  In my head all I thought this was going to be embarrassing.  I can see the fallout and I would deny knowing him or I would say we just met.  Anything to get me out of this situation.

They were going to play last and the band before them Davidasa was a Hindu sounding group with belly dancers.  That was really cool so I was getting into it. So now here we go, they get up there and they started to play and it took me totally by surprise because my first reaction was he can really play!  He was on key and he played a solo that had a funk, Caribbean, Latin beat to it and I could not stop smiling.  One because I didn't have to deny knowing him and two because this man could really play.  The set was about 45 minutes and I was in awe the entire time.  I remember thinking why hasn't he ever mentioned this before? Shocking but that is how I learned my BFF could play the bass guitar.

The next time I heard him play was in church. Again, I was shocked and asked if he could play church music? He said he plays for the church (Marcellus) occasionally. I grew up in the church and I didn't think he could hang with the gospel musicians of the day, although he just proved to me that he can play.  By this time he had purchased his "girlfriend" (they get to be girlfriends because he... nevermind, why is irrelevant) and he was playing with Ogya more often. But church music was an entire different genre and church people will not be happy if you can't get them in the mood to praise the Lord.  Nothing gets a person ready for the morning word than an "A & B selection" from the choir.  He asked me to go to church with him and I was like, "THANK GOD, A MAN WHO LIKES TO GO TO CHURCH!" Faith is an important quality to me so I said okay.  At the time, Mt. Canaan Baptist Church was having two services and I chose to attend the 8 a.m. service. The choir sung Its Only A Test by Bishop Larry D. Trotter. If you ever listen to this song, the bass is a big part of the song.  This brother was sitting there with little emotion playing this song like he wrote the music himself.  Again, I was shocked. He was jamming and I think from that day to this one, that is my favorite gospel song.

I have heard him play lots of times since those two occasions and let's just say, I am no longer a groupie but I do enjoy listening to him play and when he play something new, I am back at the Barking Legs with that big grin on my face.  An example would be when he played cocktail hour at my brother's wedding reception.  That was the first time I had heard him play a full jazz set and the people he got to play with him were equally talented and it was a nice set. What is funny is when I am not happy with him, he could be the loudest musician in the room and I will not have heard a note he has played and if I happen to hear a note then it is the most irritating sound I have heard.  Other times when I miss him when I am away from him or when we have spent some good quality time away from the mundane routine of work, kids, bills, etc., I can listen to a song and the only thing I can hear is the bass.  I will text him and let him know I am hearing the bass and he will know all is well.

As I approach my second anniversary and I think that people can go their whole lives an never have this feeling, I am grateful everyday, good or bad, that I have been blessed with the opportunity to love and have that same love in return.