Masego, Herbie Hancock and a look back at a great night at ATL Jazz Fest 2022

So my prediction about droves of young folks coming out to see Masego at the Atlanta Jazz Festival came true . They were there in force but I felt it was a beautiful opportunity for them to be introduced to a legend like Herbie Hancock. I was surrounded by them and I pretty much became their cool uncle talking them through the show. After Masego got off stage, a young Latino sister next to me was telling an older couple that radio in Atlanta doesn't support him. I had to interject and let her know I broke Masego on my radio show years ago. The brotha in the couple then yelled "are you Jamal Ahmad". I said yes and literally got mobbed by everyone around me lol. The diversity of age, race and gender of my listeners almost had me in tears. A group of young Asians, young white guys, older black and white couples and everyone in between showed immense love. It made me see how important this music is to making this world a better place. It was great to break down to the young folks how important Herbie Hancock is to modern music. I told the young Latino sis that there would be no Masego without Herbie. When he performed "Come Running To Me", I asked her if she liked J Dilla. She gleefully yelled yes. I pointed to the stage when he hit that iconic part Dilla sampled and said "Slum Village Get Dis Money". Her eyes got so big and she got it! And while he was performing that song on vocoder, I yelled "Y'all see where T-Pain got it from" and everyone burst out in laughter . When he teased us with a bit of "Textures", the way I reacted you would have thought Mobb Deep's "Shook One's Pt II"(which coincidentally sampled Herbie) came on in a hip hop club lol. Even in his 80s, Herbie Hancock is still inspiring younger generations. I'm so thankful we all got a chance to witness this legend for free. We don't know when we'll get this opportunity again. Thank you Camille Love!