Bijan Taghavi's video: Bijan Taghavi - One For Andy Quintet

Recorded at Manhattan School of Music in New York, NY (2/1/17). “One For Andy” is a piece I wrote dedicated to my friend Andy Hooten. He was a great human being, who’s positive spirit was contagious on everybody around him. Personally he was very supportive of me, always showing up to my gigs and very encouraging of me developing various musical talents. Unfortunately, he was hospitalized with stomach cancer in early 2016 and in less than a year’s time has lost over half his weight and had suffer through the poison known as chemotherapy. Everyone faces obstacles in life. As Jack London once said, “life is not always a matter of holding good cards, but sometimes, playing a poor hand well.” No matter what undeserved, unfortunate circumstances may fall on your lap, it is crucial to stand up to adversity by making the most of what you have and embracing each day as a new challenge to pursue your personal dreams and help others. So just like Andy had to take things one day at a time to extend his life, the idea of this piece was to take one simple melody and flesh it out into an extended composition.