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Kirk Whalum and Jeff Golub Take the Smooth Cruise to Memphis & Back!

The Smooth Cruise may have been out on New York Harbor last night but happy audience members enjoyed a journey into the music of Grammy winner Kirk Whalum and jazz/blues guitar virtuoso Jeff Golub which included some hot Memphis-flavored blues. The peak performance included everything from a rendition of The Stylistics’ You are Everything (and Everything is You) to Whalum’s Grover Worked and Underpaid tribute to the late Grover Washington Jr. to stellar contemporary jazz numbers to some down home blues and more.

What made this particular evening even more magical was seeing the talented Jeff Golub doing what he does best since losing his vision in recent months. While recording his latest release “The Three Kings,” he lost vision in one eye. Loss of vision in the other soon followed. Golub posted this on his web site: “While recording the record I started having a little trouble with my right eye. I tried to ignore it, but the condition worsened. Oddly enough, I was working with Henry [Butler], who coincidentally is blind. After the recording and trips to several of New York’s top eye specialists, I was diagnosed with a collapse of the optic nerve in my right eye. It is just some random thing that can happen to people … no real reason why or real cause … just a curve ball life throws at you sometimes.” Late last month, Golub says he began losing vision in his left eye as well. "(I’m) getting to spend all this time with Henry Butler, who can give me the inside track on how the heck one navigates life with severely impaired vision. Just wanted to let you all know what is going on with me. I may need a bit of time to adjust, but God willing, I have every intention of playing guitar forever and a day.”

Judging from the two killer shows last evening (which also included a dynamic performances by keyboardist Henry Butler) Golub is more than managing. Today on our Facebook page, one fan at last night’s show noted "Jeff is living proof to the saying, “Mind over matter.” Seeing this sort of perseverance gives me hope like nothing else."

In recent days, Golub’s manager posted this update to the web site: “…two specialists have given us hope that something can still be done to help reverse this situation. This requires extensive testing which Jeff is undergoing as we speak. These tests are vital to continuing the search for a solution, but they’re also expensive.” Towards this end, a Jeff Golub Medical Expenses account has been set up to which fans can donate. Per Bud Harner of Chapman Management, “Any donation would go a long way to help cover the costs of Jeff finding sight again.” Click Here to learn more or donate by check or PayPal.