One of our first dates---after Pat and I met in the summer of 1959---was to hear Peter Appleyard perform in a lounge atop the Park Plaza Hotel on Bloor St. in Toronto. (Click here for his website and here for an excellent article about him.)
The bell-like notes of his vibraphone were mesmerizing---soft, loud, fast, slow, giving a new and exciting interpretation to familiar melodies.
(If you were wondering, the vibraphone has rather long flat metal keys while the xylophone has wooden bars that are usually shorter.)
Appleyard introduced the selections with a soft English accent and a puckish sense of humour.
We left the lounge shaking our heads at his skill and the beauty of the performance.
We got married in 1961, went overseas and lost touch with Appleyard but always treasured that magical performance.
A couple of months ago, we heard that Peter Appleyard was going to perform last June 6th at a jazz festival to raise funds for the Willowbank estate in nearby Queenston.
My first reaction was that we had to go to hear him.
Then I began to have doubts. He would be in his 80s (I found out later that he was born in 1928)
How would age have affected his playing?
Would it be like going to an old-timers' hockey game with former stars showing some flashes of the old brilliance but missing easy passes.
Would it be a case of paying tribute to something that was, but was no longer?
In the end we bought tickets and began to hope for good weather. The musicians would be performing in a marquis (or marquee, if you prefer) with some seats for the audience but the rest of the spectators would be outside.
The morning of June 6 was dreadful. The temperature was around 10C, with a steady, cold rain and a nasty wind from the North.
At noon, the weather hadn't improved much. The concert was to start at 12.30 pm with Peter Appleyard performing at 2.45. We decided that we would miss the opening performances but would try to go for 2.45---if the weather improved.
At 2 pm it was still miserable but we decided to go for a few minutes. We put on winter parkas, scarves and gloves.
When we got to Willowbank the rain had stopped and the wind had dropped a little. We found two seats in the marquis and listened to the end of the first group's music.
As that group removed their instruments, we saw Appleyard standing on the grass, near the stage, next to his vibraphone. White haired with bushy white eyebrows, he was chatting with musicians and fans. He seemed in good shape.
Just then someone hoisted one end of the vibraphone to move it onto the stage. To my surprise, Appleyard took the other end, and together they lifted it up the steps to the stage.
"He shouldn't be doing that, not at his age", I said to Pat.
Peter adjusted the height of the vibraphone tried a few notes with a pair of mallets. Satisfied, he nodded to the John Sherwood trio (John Sherwood on keyboard, Pat Collins on bass and Terry Clarke on drums).
The three of them started a tune, with a relaxed Peter standing behind the vibraphone.
Then he joined in, and it was wonderful.
I shut my eyes and his playing sounded as good, or better, than it had 50 years before. For two hours, with some short breaks, he enthralled us.
I kept asking myself how can he do it---the standing, the physical exertion of pounding the mallets, the concentration, the timing.
In the cold.
During one of the last songs, he became playful. He left the vibraphone, slid onto the piano seat and he and John Sherwood played a duet with his fingers seeming to come down a hundred times a second. Then he moved to the drums, took the sticks from Terry Clarke and hammered out a fiery beat.
Returning to the vibraphone, he grinned shyly and picked up the melody with his mallets.
At the end, there was a standing ovation---that went on and on.
Afterwards, when Peter was packing his car to return to his home in Rockwood, 50 miles west of Toronto, Pat and I told him about our date at the Park Plaza.
He smiled, shook our hands and said, "The Park Plaza was a great place to play."
In some research after the performance, I learned that Appleyard once told someone, that in his native Lincolnshire he had loved to play with local bands. "At 16, I was playing with various dance bands, I had a bicycle and a trailer behind it and would ride 10 to 15 miles just to play a gig."
He came to Canada in 1951 and since then has played with many of the twentieth century's greatest musicians including Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Duke Ellington & Oscar Peterson He has had his own television programs, been honoured with the Order of Canada and continues to perform around the world.
As he drove away from the Jazz Festival, he left us marvelling and rejoicing.
And feeling a little guilty.
Even people of mature years---like us---can engage in ageism.
If you hear that he is performing anywhere near you, please go and enjoy this remarkable and---apparently----ageless artist.
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See you on July 4th for Posting #76 with more stories from our family’s universe! If you have comments or suggestions, please leave a comment at the bottom of this posting, or email me at johnpathunter@gmail.com.
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