When we are one I'm not afraid

We would be remiss if we did not note the recent passing of jazz giant Mr. James Moody.

It is no secret that Dizzy Gillespie was a grade A clown and all around general purpose asshole . But Diz did not clown solo, his sometime sidekick and musical collaborator, James Moody, was a talented but lesser known second banana and sometime straight man to Diz's outrageous buffoonery.

Please note Moody's relatively restrained response to Diz's completely straight faced introduction of him as the Brazilian female singer Flora Purim.

Not to be completely outdone, Moody changes the words of the song at 1:50 from "in the mood for love" to the improvised "in the nude for love." As he switches to falsetto for the female part of the vocalese standard Moody's Mood For Love, Moody the straight man becomes Moody the clown as he takes on the extreme affectations of a female performer.

Despite the hollering and yodeling throughout, Moody delivers as fine a rendition of his classic namesake as you are likely to hear.

James Moody, we not only thank you for bringing us a lifetime of joy through your beautiful music but also for having the courage to make us laugh at world that was not always funny.

James Moody RIP March 26, 1925 - December 9th 2010