Danilo Pérez
March 28, 2008 by nonotes
An item here last November about a Tiger Okoshi performance in Philadelphia noted that the show’s encore included a version of “SJI,” and the “curator” of the performance series, pianist Danilo Pérez, “unable contain himself” came onstage and joined in.
That incident is the lead-in of this recent Philadelphia Inquirer article about Pérez. Apart from just a bit more detail on that (he “began adding chords and lines of shadowy complexity, transforming a song of antique origin into a progressive statement all his own”), the piece gives an overview of Pérez’ career: He’s 41, was born in Panama (the son of a bolero singer), and is now a member of the Wayne Shorter Quartet. He’s also made several records of his own. The rest is here. Pérez’ own site is here — looks like he has not, to date, recorded his own “SJI.” One can only hope…
A couple of years ago I did some research into the song "St. James Infirmary," wrote up what I found, emailed that essay to friends and posted it on my web site (as part of a series of "Letters From New Orleans," as I was living in that city at the time). Based on the feedback, I wrote a second version of the essay, and asked for more feedback. Based on that, I wrote a 
