Submitted by Oliver Groenewald and Wendy Thomas.

When an artist is preparing and planning a concert, the hope is that the audience is going to love it, will be inspired, and will come back to the following shows.

Our concert on Sunday, Sept. 22 was an exceptional event to honor and remember Willie Thomas, and it is clear from the outpouring of love that a million concerts wouldn’t be enough to express how Willie has touched our community. Our guests on stage had all the freedom to choose the repertoire that they wanted to contribute. Pieces that they felt most connected them to Willie and represented their memories. Planning a concert like this invites the audience to participate more in the process – to be more than just a bystander. We shared three hours of music, stories, pictures, and movies. Nonstop. Our community made this event the success it was.

It was such a pleasure to be on stage and perform for folks who knew Willie closely and ones who knew him from a distance.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for participating in this event. We also wanted to say thank you for the donations received for the OC’s jazz fund. And for those of you who still wanted to donate, you can at www.OrcasCenter.org/WillieThomas.