An Evening of High Hopes with Eric Marienthal & Friends

Eric Marienthal

Patrons were abuzz on the covered walkway to the garden venue and tables of almost never-ending silent auction items enticed the senses and curiosity of us all. From international vacations to Broadway tickets, from flower arrangements to a vintage 1931 restored Philco Console Radio — the liveliness before the show was more than anticipatory, it was palpably stirring. Hopes were high for the many who bid on their desired gifts, all well-packaged and presented under the vine-covered awning. Closer to the stage, the crowd’s energy intensified against the white chairs gleaming in the picturesque California sun. Generous smiles disarmed one another jovially as they hurried to their seats for the show to start.

Eric Marienthal, effortlessly cool in his invaluable Jams World shirt, strolled across the stage dawning his iconic vintage-inspired Selmer saxophone as the musical performances were scheduled to start. The modern Hawaiian print button-down was “loud enough to require batteries,” as Marienthal jested. It was a part of the live auction again as it had been in previous years, notably fetching $4,000 – “with complimentary dry cleaning,” he playfully emphasized. Marienthal warmed the hearts of all in attendance with his genuine gratitude for our presence at this 25th-anniversary charity benefit concert on the 50th anniversary of High Hopes. The “Eric Marienthal & Friends Concert” has raised over $2M to support High Hopes – a local charity dedicated to helping individuals recover from traumatic brain injuries. The garden concert instilled the camaraderie of friends coupled with immense compassion and charitable service – a truly heart-warming event increasing humanity in us all.

Mitchel Forman

As the music started, the cohesive synergy of the band, all equally stylish and gifted in their lanes, played with and off each other – inspiring the collaborative music to take on an eclectic personality of its own for the evening – energizing the crowd to rise in presence with every new riff. This show celebrated High Hopes, recognizing 50 years of helping people with head injuries after starting in a nearby neighborhood in response to a boy who was injured in a motorcycle accident. Mark Desmond, the Director, witnessed different moms taking turns in the community caring for a crew of boys who were injured. Born of that collaboration, High Hopes “takes people that the rest of the world has given up on,” and as Desmond shared, “That’s where we started.” High Hopes comes in when Doctors say, “There’s no hope, you’re done.” Now, they’ve helped thousands of people who were supposed to never walk again, proving the doctors wrong. Ron, one of the students in attendance, had an emotional effect on us all, sharing that he could now stand up because of the therapeutic work through High Hopes. He had his dog, Jancy there too, and had us all say in unison, “Hi, Jancy!” repeatedly to his chagrin. The humanity of the entire event and the authenticity of every aspect of the evening made it feel like we were in somebody’s backyard. We were all alive and experiencing a shared moment of compassion – of generosity, of spirit. “How can you lose when you’re helping yourself?” Mark Desmond asked, then introduced us to one of the students on scholarship. With immense enthusiasm, “Mr. Alaska” emphasized first-hand the impact of how High Hopes aids in “getting people’s lives back on track” and thanked them profusely for creating a program to “recover and reclaim our lives.”

After the tear-jerking humility of the High Hopes presentation – the true reason we were all new-found friends in Eric Marienthal’s Garden Concert – we got a whole new kind of entertainment with an Americana-style auctioneer as he supplied a fun cadence and surplus of energetic enthusiasm to the live auction. Many items were beautifully modeled and showcased on stage, but a highlight was the man of the hour returned to the mic for the now-annual auctioning of the shirt off his back. You’d never know how down-to-earth and approachable Eric Marienthal is by how he plays the saxophone; his otherworldly talent makes him feel untouchable, yet the opposite couldn’t be truer. He’s here for High Hopes, the music, and his community, literally including his whole family and his network of musicians with him on his journey to the extraordinary generosity he has created throughout his career. Music brings together people across the invisible dividers of society, commanding the present to allow us all to hear, bear witness to, and be in the moment unlike anything else. The gift of this music at the heart of High Hopes’ “An Evening of Hope” instilled EXACTLY that in our hearts. Coming together to foster change and healing is possible when we focus more on what we have in common than what separates us.

You can read more about the musicians on stage in the articles coming out later this month, but for now, I will highlight one that made the Newport Beach event for High Hopes feel quintessentially like summer by the sea. “Bluewater,” from his album Just Around the Corner, was number one on the Smooth Jazz radio charts and can be described as a crashing wave of enchanting sounds, almost echoing from the depths of sound itself. There was so much music coming off the stage at this point, that each player was sending their unique waves of talent into the blue; the collective sound quenched a longing to experience fullness I didn’t know I even had. Andre Berry on bass made everything just a little edgy as he connected with band members and audience members alike with his light-up-the-room smile, washing away perceived separation and hierarchies to the point that those of us in the garden felt like we were watching a group of friends – our friends – have an impromptu Sunday jam session. Just after this song ended, Eric Marienthal got on the mic to introduce his family, his daughter, and even his granddaughter in such a genuinely personable and welcoming way it felt like we were at his home.

David Benoit

David Benoit, one of Marienthal’s featured friends to grace the stage, debated playing slow songs because the energy of the event benefiting High Hopes was one of uplifting hope in one another, but he chose to dedicate the next song to Lee-Ann and Eric Marienthal and the team at High Hopes. He remained composed but was noticeably emotional while talking for the first time about his recent healthcare diagnosis of kidney disease and how he was on dialysis for a year. He went on to share that his wife donated her kidney to save his life. Silence followed by applause fell over the crowd. In the aftermath of his transplant, he met other kidney donors and understands the power of community in times of struggle and recovery. He brought us back to the essence of optimism and hope as he announced, with vigor, that he is “loving life at age 70 – a whole new life and just getting started…not giving up hope, but truly loving, and living life.” The dedication song was recorded many years ago, “If I Could Reach Rainbows,” showcasing a moving depth – a journey within a song, full of peaks, and valleys. People behind me and around me were moved to tears. The intensity of emotions juxtaposed with a profound sweetness sent shivers of the shared experience of diversity throughout the entire gathering.

Patti Austin

Besides the superb band that played all the while on stage (which you can read in upcoming articles on “Eric Marienthal and Friends.” After David’s performance was the legendary Patti Austin. She gave an ode to Burt Bacharach so that she could leave us “with warm comfort and happiness.” “…we all need to be the future,” she declared as she then playfully added her Patti-Austin spin, “We are all gonna be fine if we stop cussing each other out!” Then, just like that, she went into her final song, one we all know and love, and it took on a life of its own. “What the World Needs Now Is Love.” Goosebumps overcame us as she delicately brought the song to the present moment linking it with our own political and social hard times by integrating small words of presence like “right now” to emphasize the sense of urgency.

Eric Marienthal

Our host, Eric Marienthal deeply felt the song and dangled his saxophone in front of him as he nodded his head along with the melody in approval. The backup singers came in to make it feel like a prayer – or affirmation – sent far to the skies above our collective group of do-gooders, who all believe in High Hopes – likely more than ever before. Patti added her unique twist to make the message more real with a sing-along moment. As we all sang the original lyrics, affirming what we know is true in our hearts and what we had experienced all evening through the charitable acts and collective energy of all those who came to support High Hopes, the evening felt complete. Everyone in the crowd was singing. Patti Austin, accompanied by some of the most notable players in the Smooth Jazz genre, manifested a moment of brilliance to conclude an evening of integral grandeur. We were all united by music, new friends in the garden, with High Hopes in our hearts.