Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Neville Dickie at the Sherborn Inn

Tuesday, August 3, 2010 saw the 9th annual appearance of the great British piano player Neville Dickie at the Sherborn Inn, in Massachusetts. George A. Borgman's widow, Janet, and his son Eric attended. It was the first time Dickie returned to Sherborn since last year's performance in August when George saw him for the last time.

George, always looked forward to seeing and hearing Neville Dickie perform at the Sherborn Inn. He had been very excited to see him in August of 2009 and, in some ways, he was also present during this 2010 performance, for he was remembered.

Shortly after arriving the great cornet player Jeff Hughes told Janet and Eric that only the night before he had a dream of George. Neville Dickie remarked to the audience about George, just before playing a request for Janet that, "I was his biggest fan and, I think, he was mine." He then sat down and played an amazing piece, accompanied by drummer Dave Bragdon, for which they received a standing ovation. A patron of the the night's show and a friend of George, Myron, mentioned to Eric that during the rousing piece he thought about his father.

Stan McDonald and Jeff Hughes also played along with Neville and Dave on several tunes and New England's own pianist extraordinaire, Ross Petot, played during the break and in combination with Neville for one number. Stan kindly told Eric at the end of the night that George was missed and remembered. What could be a better legacy then to have so many good and talented people remember you after you've left this world?


Watch Neville Dickie play "Nagasaki" at the 2007 Orange County Classic Jazz Festival below: