The Joint Was Jumpin’

Many thanks to Don Heckman for his fine article on violinist Regina Carter (“She’s Got the World on Four Strings,” Sept. 26).

I had the great pleasure to see her for the first time at the Monterey Jazz Festival last month and she’s absolutely incredible. She obviously was enjoying playing alongside her mentor, Kenny Barron, but halfway through “I Can’t Believe That You’re in Love With Me,” she and guitarist Russell Malone got into a give-and-take pairing that was one of the greatest jazz improvisations I’ve ever seen.

Carter was soloing on a chorus when Malone moved closer to her and the two began a call-and-response that was fantastic. In less than a minute, though, he upped the ante and began mimicking her every note. It elevated to an improvised duet that brought the house down. I couldn’t believe she could play as fast and furiously as she did and he followed her every note within nanoseconds, spot on.

It truly was one of the finest moments in jazz and that’s what it’s all about. Everyone in the audience was feeling so incredibly fortunate to have witnessed those performances in that moment within a wonderful show. I just hope somebody was recording it, because it would make a great live cut on an album.

DON ALLEN

Laguna Hills

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Heckman writes that “although the [violin] has had a long and varied history in the field--from Stuff Smith and Stephane Grappelli to Jean-Luc Ponty and L. Subramaniam--it has never been a vanguard voice.”

Joe Venuti was a vanguard voice when jazz was emerging as an American voice. Not only was he a vanguard, he was one of the real developers of the art.

ELLIS E. POHLMANN

Los Angeles