bill berry

#jazzchurch 20 featured music by Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins, Gary Peacock, Betty Carter, and others shown below:

1. Joy Ryder (Wayne Shorter)
2. He Knows How Much We Can Bear (Terrell Stafford)
3. Tryin’ Times (Roberta Flack)
4. Introductions (Sonny Rollins)
5. Where Or When (Sonny Rollins)
6. Sky Dive (Freddie Hubbard)
7. Happy Birthday (Jaco Pastorius)
8. On A Misty Night (Gary Bartz)
9. These Times (Mike Stern)
10. American Dreams (Charlie Haden)
11. Global Warming (Sonny Rollins)
12. Funeral Dirge (Terence Blanchard)
13. Man Facing North (Yellowjackets)
14. Blending Times (Ravi Coltrane)
15. The Message Part I (Ravi Coltrane)
16. Hard Times (Dr. Buzzard’s)
17. Good Times (Phoebe Snow)
18. Entelechy (Paul Bley, Gary Peacock & Paul Motian)
19. Fig Foot (Paul Bley, Gary Peacock & Paul Motian)
20. Tones for Joan’s Bones (Chick Corea)
21. Actual Proof (Herbie Hancock)
22. Love Notes (Betty Carter)

Next week’s #jazzchurch livestream can be found at postbop.com/jazzchurch Streaming live from 1-3ish PM PDT. All past episodes are available here as well.

Livestream Replay

Our second song today was “He Knows How Much We Can Bear,” by Terrell Stafford and his band. Here’s the video”

#jazzchurch 19 featured music by Rufus Reid, Tom Harrell, Betty Carter, Gregory Porter, Darrell Grant, Kenny Garrett, and others shown below:

1. Moment’s Notice (SFJAZZ Collective)
2. Morning: Good (Anat Fort)
3. The Open Door (Tom Harrell)
4. September 1st (Lorenz Hargassner Quartet)
5. Stolen Moments (The Chris Walden Big Band)
6. September Song (Betty Carter)
7. Miles Ahead (Joe Henderson)
8. Seven Minds (Rufus Reid Trio)
9. Along Came Betty (Rufus Reid)
10. Ana Maria (Rufus Reid)
11. Tight (Betty Carter)
12. Tight (Darrell Grant)
13. Two Blocks From The Edge (Michael Brecker Quartet)
14. 1960 What? (Gregory Porter)
15. Storm Approaching (Tom Harrell)
16. New Movement (Makaya McCraven)
17. Dreamgliding (Rufus Reid Quintet)
18. Goodbye Porkpie Hat (Joni Mitchell)
19. Tones for Jones Bones (Tom Scott)
20. Chief Blackwater (Kenny Garrett)
21. Ms. Baja (Kenny Garrett)

Next week’s #jazzchurch livestream can be found at postbop.com/jazzchurch Streaming live from 1-3ish PM PDT. All past episodes are available here as well.

Livestream Replay

#jazzchurch 18 featured music by Chick Corea and John McLaughlin, Bobby Hutcherson, Bobby Watson, Donald Byrd, Diana Krall, Betty Carter, and others shown below:

1. The Disguise (Chick Corea & John McLaughlin)
2. Spiritual (Bobby Hutcherson)
3. Appointment In Milano (Bobby Watson)
4. Theme For Malcolm (Donald Byrd)
5. Sister Rosa (Christian McBride)
6. The Messenger (Theo Croker)
7. Movement (Kobie Watkins)
8. Sometimes I Just Freak Out (Diana Krall)
9. Crisis (Jaco Pastorius)
10. Abre la Puerta (Betty Carter)
11. Inner Urge (The Blue Note 7)
12. T.B.C. (Terminal Baggage Claim) (Chick Corea)
13. Always Say Goodbye (Charlie Haden Quartet West)
14. Yes or No (Carlos Averhoff Jr.)
15. The Nearness Of You (Norah Jones)
16. I Want You (Erykah Badu)
17. Cavalerie (Rez Abbasi)
18. Moonrise (Matt Haviland)
19. I’ll Remember August (Oregon)

Next week’s #jazzchurch livestream can be found at postbop.com/jazzchurch Streaming live from 1-3ish PM PDT. All past episodes, mistakes included, are available here as well.

Livestream Replay

Here’s Diana Krall performing, “Sometimes I Just Freak Out” at the Montreal Jazz Festival:

#jazzchurch 17 featured music by John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman, Betty Carter, The Brad Mehldau Trio, George Benson, Chic, The Temptations, and others shown below:

1. Candles And Stones (Peter Apfelbaum & The Hieroglyphics Ensemble)
2. 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Brad Mehldau Trio)
3. You Don’t Know What Love Is (Freddie Hubbard)
4. El Gaucho (Wayne Shorter)
5. Naima (George Benson)
6. Give Me the Night (George Benson)
7. Good Times (2018 Remaster) (Chic)
8. Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now (McFadden & Whitehead)
9. Ralph’s Piano Waltz (John Abercrombie)
10. Masqualero (Steve Khan)
11. Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me) (The Temptations)
12. Could It Be I’m Falling In Love (Spinners, The)
13. Going In Circles (The Friends of Distinction)
14. Dull Day (In Chicago) (Betty Carter)
15. Love Is Made (Abbey Lincoln)
16. My One And Only Love (John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman)
17. I’ll Remember August (Axel Hagen & Olaf Tarenskeen Quartet)
18. Lonely Woman (Charlie Haden Quartet West)
19. Mr. Kenyatta (Live) (Steve Khan)

Next week’s #jazzchurch livestream can be found at postbop.com/jazzchurch Streaming live from 1-3ish PM PDT. All past episodes, mistakes included, are available here as well.

Livestream Replay

Russell Ledet Is Working to Combat Racial Disparities in Health Care | Teen Vogue

Insomnia and worry had me wide awake at 3am. Should I get up? Maybe turn on my iPhone? This article gives me so much hope that maybe, just maybe, I can go back to sleep, but not before sharing!

“Every person in health care should read Medical Apartheid [by Harriet Washington]. They should know the history of what has propped up a lot of medical progression. Take into account obstetrics and gynecology, which historically experimented on Black women. We can talk about when the first person arrived and spread a virus in the United States, but how about the times we operated on patients without anesthesia? Or the experimental procedures that were done to move forward [with] birth control?

“The mistrust in our community around medicine is, to some degree, justified. When we talk about ending health disparities, we need a very socially conscious clinician to build trust back to where we can provide care at the level we have access to in the U.S. If people are noncompliant, it’s possible they don’t trust the system. Clinicians that are not socially conscious can’t interact with patients in a socially conscious way, and that plays a role into how care is given and how care is taken.”

Congrats, Dr. Ledet. Please #KeepOnKeepingOn!

#jazzchurch 16 featured music by John Coltrane, Gary Bartz, Emily Remler, Kate McGarry, Terri Lyne Carrington, Danilo Perez, and others shown below:

1. Leta’s Dance (Gary Bartz & Maisha)
2. Hot House (Emily Remler)
3. Juba Juba (Yusef Lateef)
4. Summertime (Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band)
5. Falling Grace (George Mraz)
6. Shiva Prayer (Live) (Charles Lloyd New Quartet)
7. The Meaning of The Blues (Kate McGarry)
8. Cissy Strut (Donald Harrison)
9. August (for Karen) (Mark Prince)
10. Summertime (Gerald Wilson)
11. Stuttering (Fred Hersch)
12. Move On Up (Curtis Mayfield)
13. My Favorite Things (John Coltrane)
14. I Want to Talk About You (John Coltrane)
15. Willa Jean (John Scofield)
16. Hot House (Chick Corea)
17. Down By The River (Buddy Miles)
18. Summertime (Sylvain Provost)
19. Transformation (Terri Lyne Carrington)
20. Impressions (Danilo Perez)

Next week’s #jazzchurch livestream can be found at postbop.com/jazzchurc… Streaming live from 1-3ish PM PDT. All past episodes, mistakes included, are available here as well.

Livestream Replay

Welcome to #jazzchurch where The Rt. Rev. Dr. Uncle Billy Bob Jackson Brown Berry Black, Jr. Esq., Inc.com – aka Bill E. Bob – livestreams some of the music that’s resonating for him right now.

Today we featured music by Kenny Garrett, Bobby Watson, Wynton Marsalis, Chick Corea, Kenny Barron, and others shown below:

1. Sing A Song Of Song (Kenny Garrett)
2. Pere (Bobby Watson)
3. Down Home With Homey (Wynton Marsalis Septet)
4. The Loss of a Moment (Kenny Barron, Roy Haynes & Charlie Haden)
5. Estuary (Tom Harrell)
6. Irdir (Sylvain Luc)
7. Teo/Neo (Edsel Gomez, Alex Acuña, John Benitez & Sammy Figueroa)
8. Bohemia After Dark (Richard Galliano)
9. Pic Pocket (Live) (Lenny White)
10. Cor De Rosa (Rose Colored) (Steve Slagle)
11. Backward Country Boy Blues (Terri Lyne Carrington)
12. Open the Door ‘90 (Betty Carter)
13. Where Have I Loved You Before (Chick Corea)
14. Where Have I Danced With You Before (Chick Corea)
15. Where Have I Known You Before ? (Chick Corea)
16. Love Is (Mark Masters Ensemble, Oliver Lake, Tim Hagans, Peter Erskine & Dave Carpenter)
17. Take The Coltrane (Kenny Barron)
18. Old Wine, New Bottles (The Manhattan Project)
19. Wiggins (Kenny Garrett)

Livestream Replay

Welcome to #jazzchurch where The Rt. Rev. Dr. Uncle Billy Bob Jackson Brown Berry Black, Jr. Esq., Inc.com – aka Bill E. Bob – livestreams some of the music that’s resonating for him right now.

Today we featured music by Ellis Marsalis, George Colligan, Kathleen Battle, Charles Lloyd, Orrin Evans, the Beach Boys, and others shown below. Wait, did you say, “The Beach Boys? I thought this was #JAZZchurch???”:

1. Whistle Stop (Ellis Marsalis)
2. Waterfall Dreams (George Colligan feat. Linda May Han Oh, Rudy Royston & Nicole Glover)
3. Remote Location (Scott McLemore)z
4. Hush (Somebody’s Calling My Name) (Kathleen Battle)
5. Black Codes (Wynton Marsalis)
6. Go Down Moses (Charles Lloyd Quartet)
7. The Sower (John Patitucci)
8. Caroline, No (The Beach Boys)
9. Caroline, No (Charles Lloyd New Quartet)
10. Persian Steps (Kenny Garrett)
11. I’m in the Mood for Love (James Moody)
12. Gymnopédie No. 1 (Cyrus Chestnut)
13. I Didn’t Know What Time It Was (Cécile McLorin Salvant)
14. The Other Side (Gil Scott-Heron)
15. Don’t Fall Off The L.e.j. (Orrin Evans)
16. Throw It Away (Jenna Mammina)
17. Terrain (Chick Corea Quartet)
18. Is That So (Glenn Zaleski)
19. Nigerian Marketplace (Oscar Peterson Trio)
20. One of Another Kind (Freddie Hubbard)
21. I’ll Remember August (Andy Middleton feat. Ralph Towner & Dave Holland)

Livestream Replay

Welcome to #jazzchurch where The Rt. Rev. Dr. Uncle Billy Bob Jackson Brown Berry Black, Jr. Esq., Inc.com – aka Bill E. Bob – livestreams some of the music that’s resonating for him right now. Today we featured music by McCoy Tyner, the Yellowjackets, Sam Cooke, Wayne Shorter, Sting, and others shown below:

1. Peresina (McCoy Tyner Big Band)
2. A Little This, A Little That (Charles Fambrough)
3. Coming Up Shorter (Ken Fowser)
4. My Old School (Yellowjackets)
5. Chim Chim Cher-Ee (Michael Reis)
6. Kumbaya (Terell Stafford)
7. We Shall Overcome (The Boys Choir of Harlem)
8. A Change Is Gonna Come (Sam Cooke)
9. A Change Is Gonna Come… (Elvin Jones)
10. The Wind Of An Immortal Soul (Buster Williams)
11. Walk with Me, Lord (Lizz Wright)
12. Played Twice (Live) (Steve Khan)
13. Dance Cadaverous (Wayne Shorter)
14. Not Yet (John Coltrane)
15. Open Your Eyes, You Can Fly (Lizz Wright)
16. Toys (Live) (Herbie Hancock)
17. The Dream Of The Blue Turtles (Sting)
18. Bring On the Night (Sting)
19. Tram Line 57 (Libor Šmoldas)
20. One For J.P. - Brian Blade (Brian Blade with John Patitucci, Edward Simon)
21. Love Surrounds Us (McCoy Tyner)
22. Consider Me Gone (Sting)

Replay the show here:

Morning Fog - What Will the Day Bring???

Welcome to #jazzchurch where The Rt. Rev. Dr. Uncle Billy Bob Jackson Brown Berry Black, Jr. Esq., Inc.com – aka Bill E. Bob – livestreams some of the music that’s resonating for him right now. Today we featured music by Herbie Mann, the Esbjörn Svensson Trio, the Metropole Orchestra (featuring the music of John Scofield), Kenny Barron, Danilo Perez, and others shown below:

1. 74 miles away (Michael Wolff)
2. Interplay (Herbie Mann)
3. Breadbasket (Live) (Esbjörn Svensson Trio)
4. Jung Parade (Metropole Orchestra, John Scofield & Vince Mendoza)
5. Sunflowers (Wynton Marsalis)
6. Sunshower (Ron Carter Quartet)
7. Sunshower (Dr. Buzzard’s “Original” Savannah Band)
8. Body And Soul (Danilo Perez)
9. Cuerpo Y Alma (Body & Soul) (Esperanza Spalding)
10. Aguas De Marco (Elis Regina & Antônio Carlos Jobim)
11. Samba De Uma Nota So (Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd)
12. Brazil (Sylvain Luc)
13. Samba Do Aviao (Nate Najar Trio)
14. Sambao (Kenny Barron)
15. The Girl from Ipanema (Lou Rawls)
16. No More Blues (Joe Henderson)
17. Nightlake (Kenny Barron)
18. Y Todavia La Quiero (Joe Henderson)
19. Nigerian Marketplace (Peter Beets)
20. Penthouse A (Chico Hamilton)

Replay the show here:

Sunset on Vashon Island, WA

Welcome to #jazzchurch where The Rt. Rev. Dr. Uncle Billy Bob Jackson Brown Berry Black, Jr. Esq., Inc.com – aka Bill E. Bob – livestreams some of the music that’s resonating for him right now. Today we featured music by Kenny Garrett, Orrin Evans, Pharoah Sanders, Gary Bartz, Chick Corea/Herbie Hancock, Abbey Lincoln, and many others as shown below:

1. The Ring (Kenny Garrett)
2. Beatitudes (Orrin Evans)
3. Thembi (Pharoah Sanders)
4. Ezekial Saw The Wheel (Gary Bartz)
5. A Turtle’s Dream (Abbey Lincoln)
6. New York Minute (Herbie Hancock)
7. How My Heart Sings (Mitchel Forman Trio)
8. Benny’s from Heaven (James Moody)
9. Everyday (I Have The Blues)/All Blues (Joe Williams)
10. You’ve Changed (Etta James)
11. Lush Life (John Coltrane & Johnny Hartman)
12. Homecoming (CoreaHancock)
13. Woodstock (Joni Mitchell)
14. Woodstock (Hudson)
15. Seven Steps To Heaven (Miles Davis)
16. Bird Alone (Abbey Lincoln)
17. La Senorita Negra (Rob Bruynen Brownies Colours)
18. After the Fact (John Scofield)

Thanks for listening!

Replay the show here:

Something I noticed…

Wondering how I came to be called (okay, okay, call myself!) The Rt. Rev. Dr. Uncle Billy Bob Jackson Brown Berry Black, Jr. Esq., Inc.com?

When my niece was, let’s just say, much younger, I’d ask her what my name was. When she called me “Uncle Bill,” I said “no, I’m Uncle Billy.”

The next time we’d talk, my name grew to be “Uncle Billy Bob.” Then, “Uncle Billy Bob Jackson,” then Jackson Brown, etc.

This went on for years until, as a teenager, she quit playing the game. By then, with very little additional embellishment, we had “The Rt. Rev. Dr. Uncle Billy Bob Jackson Brown Berry Black, Jr. Esq., Inc.com.”

But you can just call me Bill E. Bob, okay? Rev works fine, too! You can also catch my _ 🎶🎵🎤 sermons 👍🏾_ on #JazzChurch, Sunday afternoons between 1-4pm PST.

Welcome to #jazzchurch where The Rt. Rev. Dr. Uncle Billy Bob Jackson Brown Berry Black, Jr. Esq., Inc.com – aka Bill E. Bob – livestreams some of the music that’s resonating for him right now. Today we featured music by Nina Simone, Oliver Nelson, Keith Jarrett, Charles Lloyd, and Public Enemy, among others. Did you say “Public Enemy? I thought this was a jazz show!” :-)

Replay the show here:

Welcome to #jazzchurch where I livestream some of the music that’s resonating for me right now. Today we featured music by Nina Simone, Stanley Clarke, Marc Johnson, and Jessica Williams, among others.

Listen here:

Today is Father’s Day. I’m a father and have received plenty of greetings from family and friends. I love my son and my wife, and thank them for helping me be a good father.

My dad’s been gone for 41 years. I was 27 and happy to have at least had him that long.

My dad worked all the time, at least six days a week. I don’t remember him being home that much. I do remember barbecues in the back yard. Whole pig!

I remember drinking and arguing. I remember stepping between dad and mom. I remember running away and hiding. I remember being rescued from the basement by my grandmother. She also left us 41 years ago.

I remember my father being sick and in the hospital. I remember asking him if he was afraid. He said yes.

I remember taking him and Mfanya to Shea Stadium to watch the Mets. I remember thinking he had to do too much walking that day.

I remember he died the Tuesday before were going to Yankee Stadium to cheer for Reggie Jackson, not the hated Yankees. Yes, my father would rather die than go see the Yankees!

My father was wise. He once told me, “Go ahead and do what you want to do. I can’t stop you. But someday, you’re gonna look back and say, ‘My daddy was right.’” A few years later, I got to tell him he was right.

I remember saying, “stop fussing dad,” to which he responded, “I’m not fussing. I’m talking. I can talk, can’t I?” I remember shaking my head, and now I’m the one who is always talking, not fussing.

I miss my dad. I still love him. As my sister said this morning, “41 years but always in our hearts ❤️.”

Happy Fathers Day!

#jazzchurch 08 – Happy Father’s Day!

Welcome to #jazzchurch where we livestream two hours of music in two hours’ time. Today we featured Horace Silver’s “Song For My Father,” including the version by Leon Thomas. Other great songs as well. Preparations for this show got me thinking about my own father.

I hope the music provides you with some uplift, some new resolve, peace, and some hope! Enjoy! Here’s the audio:

Here’s an Apple Music playlist containing the publicly available songs I played.

Tune in 1-3pm PDT next Sunday for another edition of #jazzchurch!

While having lunch with a colleague two or three years ago, she asked a question I’d never been asked before. Being stunned at the time, I can only paraphrase it as, “how did you get to be you?” I recall fumbling through my answer, talking, not about education or training, but about some of the experiences that have helped shaped me.

The following passage from Frank Barrett’s “Yes to the Mess” provides a less rambling description of the process I’ve been through.:

When you’re learning to be a professional, it’s not just a matter of memorizing a set of rules or a stock of explicit knowledge. Often what you are learning is an outlook, a mood, a disposition. You’re learning to absorb a whole way of being —picking up practices, rather than learning about practices. This learning is anything but clean, rote, or logically arranged. Learning to be a practicing musician, like learning to be a practicing executive, is a sloppy process. It’s intuitive and vague. You are guessing and adjusting, trying to grasp what to do next, listening to how others grapple with dilemmas, imitating the phrases and facial expressions of admired peers, trying something based on vague glimpses and threads of meaning—and, critically, reorienting as you go.

This kind of learning involves trying, getting stuck, and then trying again. With jazz players, as with rising executives and junior partners, this is a work in progress that’s performed in public. But the presence of others and the stories they share make a difference. Just as a division head in a meeting learns the proper way to critique an idea and how to receive and give critiques in public settings, the jazz musician learns the norms of meta-learning, how to help others think, how and when to give advice—crucial skills for everyone.

– Frank J. Barrett, “Yes to the Mess: Surprising Leadership Lessons from Jazz” (p. 107)

What do you think? Maybe you’ve been through this process too?

Welcome to #jazzchurch! Today we featured the Edwin Hawkins Singers, Roberta Flack, Betty Carter, Pharoah Sanders, Branford Marsalis, Tom Harrell, and Gil Scott-Heron, just to name a few. Here’s more info about the meaning of today’s show. Feedback welcome!

I hope the music provides you with as much solace as it did for me! Enjoy!

Tune in 1-3pm PDT next Sunday for another edition of #jazzchurch!

Note: This blog post came about as I was getting ready for my #jazzchurch live stream.

After Emmett Till, James Earl Chaney, Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman, Medgar Evers, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson, Carol Denise McNair, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Rodney King, Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Philando Castile, Walter Scott, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Manuel Ellis, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and countless, innumerable others…

And after the George Floyd funeral this past week, “Joy, Joy” is the song that’s on my mind:

Behind every dark cloud
there’s a silver lining
After every rainstorm
there’s a bright new star
When troubles grieve you
and friends deceive you
Oh don’t worry
it will pass over
In the morning

when trials pull your heartstrings
don’t be discouraged
and even though pain and misery
fill your eyes with tears
these trials will soon pass
and soon they will depart
oh hallelujah
they will pass over
bye and bye

weeping may endure for a night
but joy will come in the morning

Police brutality keeps going and going and going, and I’m still waiting for joy to come in the morning. I’m working on not being discouraged, and it’s so damn hard…

#SayTheirNames
#BlackLivesMatter
#2020Roadsigns
#ideasfor2020
#song4today!
#ThisIsHowImFeelingRightNow
#jazzchurch

I love Steve Schmidt’s ability to be so clear and compelling, on-the-spot. Maybe he could work for the Biden campaign?

I couldn’t find the video, so here’s my transcription of his remarks on law and order Trumpublicans:

Well the obtuseness is extraordinary, the idea that, well, we’ll solve this issue politically by going to talk to the only black senator because he’ll have a particular wisdom that eludes all of us as we sit and we observe this moment.

It was remarkable that all the Republican Senators went into the Senate lunch shortly after the Trump ordering of the attack on Lafayette Square when he did his walk across to Saint Johns to desecrate the Bible.

They didn’t even talk about any of this in the Senate lunch! The subject didn’t come up! I mean they couldn’t be more out-of-touch if they were doing their senate work from a space station. It’s as if they’re on a different planet, that they are so disconnected from what’s happening in the country.

And so when we talk about law and order, we should understand what that means. It doesn’t mean justice. Law and order is not what we saw in Lafayette Square when innocent protesters asserting their constitutionally protected rights were assaulted and attacked by the police. So much of the chaos we’ve seen on the streets has been the chaos of the state exercising violence against the citizens.

And so, when we look at this moment, all across the country, people are saying we’ve had enough of militarized police departments. We want to see police men and women dressed like they’re in Mayberry, not that they’re in Falluja with the combat boots bloused into the pants, the tactical gear, all of it.

When the American people saw the injustice of a man’s life being snuffed out over eight minutes with a knee on his neck it was as if the whole country finally in this catalytic moment said enough is enough.

This isn’t a conversation about law and order. It’s a conversation about justice. And when Trump talks about law and order, it’s the law and order of Bull Connor, it’s the law and order of police dogs, and vicious dogs, and domination of the streets.

That’s not law and order! The people who crave law and order are the people on the streets protesting for justice.

U.S. protesters call to ‘Defund the Police.’ What would that look like?

What would that look like?

Welcome to #jazzchurch where we livestream two hours of music in two hours’ time. Today we feature John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Kenny Barron, Bobby Hutcherson, Branford Marsalis, and Tineke Postma, just to name a few.

I hope the music provides you with some uplift, some new resolve, peace, and some hope! Enjoy!

Livestream audio on SoundCloud

Apple Music playlist

Tune in 1-3pm PDT next Sunday for another edition of #jazzchurch!

Notes on the George Floyd Protests in Minneapolis | The New Yorker

“As the rain picks up and the crowds disperse, we start the three-mile walk back to the car and we see the precinct up close for the first time since arriving. A busted door, folks at the windows and on the cars. Good, I think to myself. Though I’m scared. Cops love cops and buildings more than they love the people.”

On April 29, 1992, I was hosting a dinner for 24 people at my favorite San Francisco restaurant, Square One (Hi Joyce G). It was a closing dinner commemorating a bond deal we had recently completed.

While there was a business purpose, the event was normal and mostly a social occasion. There were four or five tables, each having their own conversations. Along with one of our analysts, I was the only other black person in the room.

Situation: normal.

Except this evening. We didn’t know it when the dinner was planned. Hell, we didn’t know it until well into the festivities.

Know what, exactly?

Well, this was the day the Rodney King verdict came down. Not that Rodney was guilty, etc. No. The verdict was that the white policemen. Who beat the hell out of Rodney King. On video. Seen by the world. Well, those cops were found one-hundred-percent completely, absolutely, totally innocent.

So there was civil disobedience. Riots. I don’t know. We didn’t know. And it was a long time ago now.

What I do remember was someone heard what was happening out there and that became a topic at our tables.

At one point, one of my friends, a bond lawyer, turned to me and said, “Bill, what do you think?”

It was an E.F. Hutton Moment. The commercials said, “When E.F. Hutton talks, everybody listens.”

The room grew quiet. Everyone, at all the tables, turned, looked at me, and waited for my answer.

I said, “There but for the Grace of God go I.”

To immediate protestations. “No way.” “How can you say that?” “You’re not Rodney King!”

“Well, maybe,” I said. “But I’ve been stopped by the police for no reason. In Palo Alto! I’m black. The same things have happened to me. And could have gotten out of hand. There but for…”

I’m not sure when or how, but dinner returned to normal. We had a good time together. We commemorated the deal. And we went on as usual.

Over twenty years later, it doesn’t seem like we’ve made much progress at all.