South Florida’s Grammy award winning Ed Calle

South Florida’s Grammy award winning Ed Calle

By Don Valentine

One of South Florida’s premier musicians, Ed Calle, performed at the Broward Perming Arts Center. The Gold Coast Jazz Society, a hidden artistic jewel in our area presented Dr. Calle.  Dr. Ed, as I like to call him, has a doctorate from Nova Southeastern University. He is a five-time Grammy nominee and a Latin Grammy winner.  If you were not at the show last week, you missed a rare treat of being entertained by a man that has appeared on over 1,200 jazz albums. He has performed with legends from George Benson, Frank Sinatra, Bob James, Gladys Knight, Kirk Whalum, Sammy Davis Jr., Isaac, Hayes, Smokey Robinson and Gloria Estefan, to name a few.

From the dearth of Black people in the audience I can surmise that we are not taking advantage of this great portal of jazz that the Gold Coast Jazz Society is trying to expose to South Florida. Consider that we created the musical “Gumbo” we call Jazz and we don’t take advantage to see the musical heritage they provide in the best venues in Broward – it is a waste for our community. Let me tell you how striking our lack of representation was. By my count there were about 19 Blacks out of a thousand people at that show. Go to goldcoastjazzsociety.com to find out more about this hidden South Florida gem.

Calle is not only a prolific sax player but very thoughtful and introspective. In a recent interview I asked him what he thought about Trump’s aspirations for illegal immigrants. He said, “I love my people, earthlings, and do not want to see more desperate people forced to wear aprons, hairnets, and boots used to pick crops in the sun. Those are all great jobs and careers if they are chosen of your own free will and not the result of terrible leadership at home.”

Ed said his favorite artists are “John Coltrane, Whit Sidener (UM Professor and the greatest mentor I’ve ever known), Michael Brecker and Arturo Sandoval my big brother, friend, and the greatest musician I’ve ever known.”

Dr. Ed is a South Florida musical genius.