Radiant Lee
What a wonderful mirror, that would show us what we could become, rather than
limiting our image to that with which we identify through habit. Lee Reid was
such a soul, a mirror that penetrated and elevated anyone who came into her
presence. Lee was a Unitarian Universalist minister who bridged racial and economic
divides tirelessly. Lee and I did several jazz services at the Unitarian Church
of Princeton and in her Church in Englewood. When Dizzy passed, I knew I couldn't
make it through the service without someone at my side, and Lee got me through
that transition.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1996 I learned that Lee had been hit by a car, and died
of her injuries. In shock, on the 5 minute ride home, this tune started to be
born, and arrived as though transcribed over the next 45 minutes. Interestingly,
almost every note is a black note, and the only two notes which aren't are flats
(f flat and c flat, which is a rare event). I played this tune first at her
memorial service, and offer it to you as a pale reflection of her beauty, her
spirit, her radiance.