Remembering President Jimmy Carter
In 1999 I was VP at North Star Music, a small record label based in Providence, RI, trying to find its niche in the marketplace. Stellar solo pianist David Osbornewas being promoted by North Star as Pianist to the Presidents, having
performed at the White House under Carter, Bush and Clinton. He became a personal friend with Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, often performing at their parish church in Plains, Georgia.
When David was asked to perform at Jimmy Carter’s 75th birthday gala, heenlisted the music director at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas (David’s then musical home) to help produce the show. It was a grand event at the beautifully
renovated Rylander Theater in downtown Americus, next door to the Habitat for Humanity headquarters. Jimmy Carter, in his inimitable fashion, would only agree to attend a birthday tribute if it was a charity fundraiser event. A big-screen
monitor was set up outside the Rylander for any of the townspeople who’d like to see the show.
The North Star Jazz Ensemble — Bruce Abbott on saxes, Ron Fournier on piano, Marty Ballou on bass and yours truly on drums — had contributed backing tracks and arrangements for a few of David Osborne’s albums. David, who was the opening act, invited us to accompany him. After David’s set came a multigenerational litany of noted musicians including Indigo Girls, Pat Boone, Phyllis McGuire, Lynn Anderson and the amazing Georgia Mass Gospel Choir.
All flown in for gratis by Delta Airlines. Press corps dignitaries who spoke included emcee Spencer Christian, Sam Donaldson and Helen Thomas.
During the after-party at the classic Windsor Hotel across the street, I was able to meet Jimmy and Rosalynn as part of line of admirers on the mezzanine. A totally gracious 40-second stop as they moved through the long line. The band CDs I planned to give him, which I quickly pulled back due to the stern looks of his Secret Service entourage, remain wrapped on my shelf to this day. Just one memento of a true lifetime experience.
Paul Mason
North Star Jazz & CommonGround Recordings
Special Holiday Bundle - four CDs for $25, shipping included!
Visit our Store page for information.
Visit our Store page for information.
Christmas has come and gone, but we thought we'd leave our Christmas favorites up for just a bit longer. The season always seems too short, once we get past New Years!
Here are links to our much-loved Holiday recordings, one from Bruce Abbott and North Star Jazz with strings, featuring players from the Boston Symphony,
and one from CommonGround which features long time Carly Simon guitarist, Peter Calo.
And visit our streaming page for links to our whole catalog
on the streaming service of your choice!
We made it through!
And to let you know that we’re thinking of you. Without your support since we made our first CD for North Star back in the ’90s, we would never have gotten the chance to make all the records that followed, and to connect with all the folks that have written to us or come to our concerts and club dates over the years.
In recent years we haven’t had the opportunity to play together as often as we’d like to. And now, with all live music events cancelled for the foreseeable future, it’s going to be a while before we’re able to see you up close and personal. We’ll miss playing together, and seeing you all.
At the same time the music marketplace is also changing. Again! We still have plenty of CDs for most of our titles, so feel free to visit our store and we’ll be happy to send some to you. The days of buying and owning downloadable tracks is however, coming to an end. The new model is based on subscription services such as Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. Our music is available on those services and most other similar ones.
Sometimes it takes a little extra effort to find us. Depending on the project, some of our albums were listed in slightly different ways. The North Star Jazz Ensemble, or Bruce Abbott and The North Star Jazz Ensemble. Our other identity as CommonGround is sometimes listed as Common Ground. But we’re out there so keep trying.
We hope that our music will provide a little moment of calm amongst all the confusion that we find ourselves in at the moment.
Feel free to contact us via email on our contact page.
We’ll be updating you on our various adventures going forward. And while we haven’t played together all that much recently, we’ve all been busy with other projects, and we’ll keep you informed about some of those as well.
Hang in there. Thanks for your support over the years. Stay safe and stay well.
The North Star Jazz Ensemble and CommonGround.
Want to check in with what we've been up to individually? Check these out,
Bruce Abbott Music Ron Fournier, Copywriter, Songwriter Marty Ballou/RI Music Hall of Fame
Peter Calo Paul Mason/Dunes Trio Paul Mason/The Conversation
And to let you know that we’re thinking of you. Without your support since we made our first CD for North Star back in the ’90s, we would never have gotten the chance to make all the records that followed, and to connect with all the folks that have written to us or come to our concerts and club dates over the years.
In recent years we haven’t had the opportunity to play together as often as we’d like to. And now, with all live music events cancelled for the foreseeable future, it’s going to be a while before we’re able to see you up close and personal. We’ll miss playing together, and seeing you all.
At the same time the music marketplace is also changing. Again! We still have plenty of CDs for most of our titles, so feel free to visit our store and we’ll be happy to send some to you. The days of buying and owning downloadable tracks is however, coming to an end. The new model is based on subscription services such as Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music. Our music is available on those services and most other similar ones.
Sometimes it takes a little extra effort to find us. Depending on the project, some of our albums were listed in slightly different ways. The North Star Jazz Ensemble, or Bruce Abbott and The North Star Jazz Ensemble. Our other identity as CommonGround is sometimes listed as Common Ground. But we’re out there so keep trying.
We hope that our music will provide a little moment of calm amongst all the confusion that we find ourselves in at the moment.
Feel free to contact us via email on our contact page.
We’ll be updating you on our various adventures going forward. And while we haven’t played together all that much recently, we’ve all been busy with other projects, and we’ll keep you informed about some of those as well.
Hang in there. Thanks for your support over the years. Stay safe and stay well.
The North Star Jazz Ensemble and CommonGround.
Want to check in with what we've been up to individually? Check these out,
Bruce Abbott Music Ron Fournier, Copywriter, Songwriter Marty Ballou/RI Music Hall of Fame
Peter Calo Paul Mason/Dunes Trio Paul Mason/The Conversation
|
Thank You!
To everyone who came to hear us at our date at Chan's EggRoll and Jazz. It was great to reconnect with Peter Calo and get to play some the music from Fire & Rain and Homeward Bound. Here is a slide show of photos taken at Lakewest Recording during the making of the CommonGround projects. Click here to view. |
We want to say a special Thank You! to the Nantucket Arts Council for asking us back to open the 2017 Nantucket Arts Festival.
Not only did we get to play two great concerts on the island, but the request by the council that we add a vocalist for our first visit in 2016 was the impetus for the addition of Marcelle Gauvin to our quartet. Since Marcelle came on board we've decided to pursue other opportunities for the group with Marcelle. We've got a few things we're currently working on, so check back and we'll keep you posted as additional dates get firmed up
Not only did we get to play two great concerts on the island, but the request by the council that we add a vocalist for our first visit in 2016 was the impetus for the addition of Marcelle Gauvin to our quartet. Since Marcelle came on board we've decided to pursue other opportunities for the group with Marcelle. We've got a few things we're currently working on, so check back and we'll keep you posted as additional dates get firmed up
North Star Jazz on the Web
If you enjoy listening to music on Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music or many of the other online music services, be sure to list us in your online radio choices.
Check out photos from our trip to Nantucket to play a concert for the Nantucket Arts Council. Our date this past May was cancelled due to high winds
and dangerous seas, but we're working on a return date for the Fall, so keep you eye on this space for updates.
and dangerous seas, but we're working on a return date for the Fall, so keep you eye on this space for updates.
photos by Steve Mason
|
Bruce Abbott
Ron Fournier
Piano and keyboards
Learn more about this music at www.jazzillustrated.com or visit Ron online at www.ronfournier.com Paul Mason
Drums and percussion
Paul spends his summers playing with this trio on the beach in Narragansett, RI www.dunestrio.com |