Lou Williams stood at the entrance of the Haas Howell building on the campus of Georgia State University. He had done this many times, now, but getting in front of people to perform still made him nervous.
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“Yes, I’m sure my students would love a session with famous jazz saxophonist Lou Williams!” came the voice from the phone.
“Excellent! I figured, you know, since I was in town that day, I thought maybe I could share my gifts with the younger generation.”
The music professor was effusive. “They’ll be so excited to hear about this! One of our country’s greatest jazzmen! I can hardly believe it.”
“Believe it! See you then.”
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Williams looked out at his audience. Several rows of college students looked back at him. Suddenly, he felt very exposed. He started to imagine all the ways in which this could go wrong. The saxophone felt foreign in his hands. He would just have to call this off, he thought in a panic. Just call it off, apologize, and head back to the hotel.
One of the cuter students seemed to notice his unease. She gave him a small, tight-lipped smile, as if to say “You can do it, world-renowned jazz saxophonist Lou Williams!”.
That gave him the confidence he needed. He took a deep breath, and began to play. It took a few attempts, but eventually he managed to produce a single squawking note, which pierced the classroom atonally. Not wanting to waste the effort, he began mindlessly depressing the keys, producing a noise which could only be considered “music” by the loosest definition of the term.
He stopped, panting and out of breath, then began again, gaining confidence with each randomly generated note. The professor, watching from the back, stood with her mouth agape, hardly daring to believe what she was hearing. A young man in the front row tapped his foot to a beat, a beat which was not contained in Lou’s music.
The gathered crowd watched intently as he continued performing his “song”, which was now coming to a close. He held a final screeching tone before removing the instrument from his lips. The applause came swiftly and loudly. He let it wash over him as he smiled. Another stellar performance by Lou Williams, famous jazz saxophonist.