A jazzman's perfect sound of practice

PROVIDENCE, RI (WPRI) -- Richie Price calls it practice but passers-by consider his jazz perfect as he fills the Providence air with his well-tuned sound.

“Just beautiful,” Maria Canada says, walking her dog past Price while he plays When You Wish Upon A Star.

“Why, you’re welcome,” the burly Price answers, taking a short break on his sidewalk stage on South Water Street.

“Because you have an echo coming from across the river,” Canada tells us, explaining why she loves the sound. “So, it’s as though you have two players on opposite sides. It’s really cool.”

Price has played around the world with a long list of legends, including Lionel Hampton and Count Basie.

“Played in Dusseldorf, Amsterdam, Chile,” he says. “I played Carnegie Hall with Count Basie.”

But the work on Water street?; “It’s practice.”

Practice, using the acoustics of Providence that he agrees, enhances his horn.

“Comes back at me because of the wall,” he tells us after playing a riff toward a building opposite the river.

He rotates toward the water.

“Sometimes, I play that way,” he adds, before shifting to a third angle. “Sometimes, I play that way.”

He shows us how he also aims his trumpet at Westminster, into the heart of the city because that’s where all the people are.

“And they find me.”

They do. On bikes, on foot, walking, running and driving. Most say something or shake his hand. He hears an occasional honk from drivers. And sometimes kayakers and others on river salute with their paddles.

“It reverberates on the water,” one listener says. “And there goes a rower, rowing to the music. So what could be better?”

Price has ‘practiced’ on the street long enough to know many of his fans.

“I got people I can talk to on a first name basis. Hey Joe, hey Mars, how you doing?” he says, reenacting the same friendly wave he offers to the namesakes.

He shares more than his music. His knowledge put him in front a classroom of young musicians about a decade ago and he says he loves it, now teaching in Portsmouth, Newport and Warwick.

But the man on the horn has a story beyond playing with Hampton and Basie and teaching children. His sound was close to being silenced by kidney failure. Faith cooled his fear.

“I had to wait three and a half, almost four years. Very lucky that I got one,” Price says, a beat before lifting the horn back toward his mouth. “I must be here for a reason.”

He thinks that reason is to play and to teach. So, you won't find a hat in front of this jazzman.

“Take your money and please give it to your grand kids or your kids. Buy them some ice cream.”

And then maybe take them to hear a tune or two on South Water where Price is just happy to 'practice' his perfection.

“I'll keep playing until they throw dirt on my face,” he says with a big laugh, right before busting out a rendition of Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Send story ideas to Walt at wbuteau@wpri.com and follow us on Twitter: @StreetStories12 and @wbuteau