Grace

Alaadeen, tenor sax/Harold O'Neal, piano/Seth Lee, bass/Donivan Bailey, drums/Ray Stewart, percussion "I wrote Grace for Butch Berman's wife…Grace. I presented it to her for a wedding present. It's about being given an extended period of time in ideal circumstances. I met Butch about 1995. He was founder of the Berman Music Foundation, a DJ and an excellent musician. We'd get together when he'd come down to Kansas City. Butch was so generous, he'd invite us out to dinner and insist on always paying. We had Grace and him over to the house for dinner once. Grace loved our pear tree...said it reminded her of home in Nigeria. But the bees on the mint plant were another thing. Neither Butch nor Grace were very fond of them."