(clock ticking) (clock continues ticking) - How about this one, bae?

Remember?

(Gloria laughs) (gentle music) (Junior humming) Now this is that song that you recorded that made me fall in love with you.

(hands smacking) (gentle music continues) (Gloria and Junior humming) (Gloria and Junior vocalizing) (Gloria humming) (Gloria and Junior vocalizing) (Gloria and Junior continue vocalizing) - Oh, it's snowing again.

- Mm-hmm, it never stopped.

(wind howling) And learn to sing one song.

(hands tapping) - [Musician] Hey, man.

(mellow piano music) (hands tapping) Hey there.

(mellow jazz music) (mellow jazz music continues) - Junior is 22 years older than I am, so when he asked me to be his full-time manager, I thought, "Okay, I will retire early from teaching, travel with him, and enjoy life with him.

(mellow jazz music continues) And am I glad I did.

Because three years later, he had the stroke, and he started to lose his memory.

(friends laughing) - Carrying on something scandalous over there at the piano.

(friends laughing) (wings fluttering) (footsteps plodding) - [Gloria] Okay.

- [Junior] Yeah, what is this we're going to now?

- [Gloria] You didn't see the note today?

- [Junior] No.

- [Gloria] Well, they plan to honor you tonight.

- [Junior] All of a sudden?

Shit, no.

- No.

- [Junior] You better start writing this shit down.

Now, what do I put on now?

- Put this on first.

- Damn.

(shirt thuds) - [Gloria] Well, I'm very proud.

(attendees applauding) (attendees continue applauding) - [Presenter] The Jazz Gallery Lifetime Achievement Award, Junior Mance, swingin' soul.

- You're going to walk all the way up, and you have two minutes to speak.

- Right.

- Mr.

Junior Mance.

- Ooh.

(attendees laughing) I never knew that people would remember that name.

(attendees and Junior laughing) Oh, I don't know what to say.

I was... (exhales) What should I say?

Boy, you're all so beautiful.

(pensive music) What should I say?

I just feel, I just wanted to say... (pensive music continues) Ah, I'm getting old.

- Yeah.

(Junior laughs) Happens to all of us.

Beats the alternative.

(Junior and host laughing) - [Gloria] June 10th, "More and more, I catch myself holding my breath because I do not know if he's going to blank out on the stage."

- And now I would like to turn the spotlight on our pianist, Junior Mance, and it's "Willow Weep for Me."

(gentle piano music) (audience cheering and applauding) (gentle jazz music continues) (gentle jazz music continues) (gentle jazz music continues) (gentle jazz music continues) (audience applauding) - [Presenter] Junior Mance.

(audience cheering and applauding) - Ooh, thank you.

Ooh.

(audience applauding) I was born during the Depression, you know, in 1928, and my father worked every day, as did my mother.

So they moved into this house.

Whoever lived there before us left an old upright piano there, (laughs) you know?

So my father told the landlord who lived downstairs, "Well, you want me to have this piano taken out?"

And my father said, "Nah, nah, leave it."

(gentle piano music) So I went on from there.

(gentle piano music continues) I'm just so happy now playing music.

I am never gonna retire.

(engine humming) - [Gloria] How do I better prepare myself for the worst part of the disease when he can no longer play music?

- You see, these connections that make us who we are, when those break down, that whole self that's been built for decades as your personality goes away.

- Goes away.

- But the disease, it goes all around music memory and doesn't hit it.

Even when he can't play, in his own mind, that music will never go away.

(gentle piano music) But how do you maintain yourself?

This is the biggest question.

By rolling with it rather than trying to fight it.

(gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) - The first time I saw Junior was at the Village Gate in the early '90s.

I did not know he was famous.

I was not even aware that he had over 200 recordings.

To me, he was just a musician that I loved to listen to.

I'm sitting at the bar with my date, and at the end of the night, Junior gives me his business card.

I decided at 12 o'clock to fax him.

Do you remember this fax?

"Dear Junior, I found last night to be very interesting.

I would like to know"- - "What is going on?"

- (laughs) Very direct.

And then we were married exactly one year later.

Do you remember?

We were on a jazz cruise 17 years ago.

You asked me would I marry you.

- I did?

- Yeah.

But I gave you a way out.

What did I say to you the next day?

- I don't know.

- 'Cause you had probably two bottles of wine.

- I don't know.

- You probably had three.

I said to you, "Do you remember what you asked me last night?"

- I don't remember anything.

- And you said, "Yes, I do."

And I responded.

I said, "Look, you can withdraw that question."

(laughs) - And I didn't know which question to withdraw.

(Gloria laughs) (Junior laughs) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) - [Gloria] To see him play and to know the enjoyment he gets from performing, it's everything.

Without it, who will he be?

Who will we be?

(distant horns honking) (train rattling) - Are we gonna make a recording?

- [Gloria] You're recording today.

- One, two, three, four.

(energetic jazz music) (energetic jazz music continues) (energetic jazz music continues) (energetic jazz music continues) Ah.

- Yeah, key of G, you know?

- [Junior] Yeah.

(gentle piano music) - [Musician] This one, this melody.

You wanna hear our recording?

Just listen, you know?

(footsteps plodding) Can we listen recording?

(laid-back jazz music) - Let's do it now.

(laid-back jazz music continues) Pow.

Pow.

Pow, pow.

(musician laughs) Pow.

No, no, stop it, stop it.

- You don't wanna hear?

- Huh?

- [Musician] You don't wanna hear?

- That part ain't shit.

I can do better than that.

Let's go in there and hit it, do it.

- Okay.

- Damn.

(gentle music) - [Musician] Gloria, I think he cannot play anything today because so many mistake, and he don't remember.

(gentle music continues) (Gloria sniffing) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - Eventually, he won't be able to play.

(sniffs) That's why I'm gonna just let him play.

You know what?

(gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) (gentle music continues) - [Junior] And you're gonna make mistakes, but that's jazz.

- Yeah.

- That's one of the things I learned from the older guys in Chicago.

When you make a mistake, make it loud and wrong.

(both laughing) Don't make it soft.

That way, it stands out like a mistake.

- Yeah.

- You know?

But if you just make it loud, you know, "Oh, look what he did there.

Hell yeah, I gotta listen to that again."

After a while, everybody else'll be doing it, (laughs) like Charlie Parker's "Lover Man."

(clock ticking) (gentle jazz music) - June 27th.

"Junior tells me that his mind is confused.

He said to me, 'I cannot get it to work like it did yesterday.

My mind is playing in tricks on me,' he said.

'I cannot figure out if it is morning or night.'"

(gentle jazz music continues) It has been three years since I started this journal.

I do see patterns of when his mind dips and what keeps him steady.

(gentle jazz music continues) Routines and music.

(gentle jazz music continues) "At 4:15 AM, he yells, 'I'm alive.

I'm living.'

I did not respond, so he shook me and said, 'Babe, babe, I'm alive.

I'm not dead.

I was dead for a short time,' he tells me, 'and I'm living now.'

'You're dreaming, so just go back to sleep.'

'I'm living, and I don't want to sleep.'"

(clock ticking) (traffic whooshing) - Whoo!

There's no place like New York.

That's why they named it twice, New York, New York.

(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) ♪ Doo, dee, doo, doo, doo ♪ - I want to show you this.

♪ Dee, doo, dee ♪ ♪ Doo, doo, dee ♪ - Okay, read this letter.

Remember, you and I used to send each other.

- Yeah, I know.

- Listen to what I wrote, 2014.

- Yeah, how long did it take you?

All night and how long?

- Could you listen, please?

- [Junior] Well, go ahead.

I'm waiting.

(Gloria laughs) - March 12th, 2014.

"Dear babe, I am writing this letter to let you know"- - 2014?

- Yeah, "that I love you and will always be here for you.

Remember, I fell in love with Junior Mance the person and not the great jazz legend, Junior Mance."

- [Junior] Who's he?

- You.

- [Junior] That says the great Junior Mance.

I was never that great.

- Well, I thought so.

Do you want to finish this, please?

- No.

- "Love you forever, your wife."

- [Junior] Listen, I stay- - "Gloria."

- in good shape.

I'm a black belt in karate.

- [Gloria] Did you ever read this?

- [Junior] I don't know if I did or not.

- Because it was always on your piano.

I will be at the desk.

- Okay.

- You can play the piano or do whatever you need to do.

- Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) - I'm getting ready to go out in a few minutes.

My granddaughter will be here to give you dinner.

Okay?

- [Granddaughter] So what's your anniversary gift?

- [Gloria] Going out and leaving you here.

- I'm glad you're doing something for yourself.

Do you want, like, actual eyebrows?

'Cause I can make it look like you have actual eyebrows.

- I do have eyebrows.

Should I wear this one?

(laughs) - [Granddaughter] What the hell is that?

- 19 years of marriage.

- Get yourself a- - Okay, bye.

- Did he normally get you presents?

- We don't do presents.

We really don't.

We never have.

Okay, bye.

- Enjoy your white wine and scotch.

(both laughing) The Mance party of two.

(laughs) You'll drinking like it.

(door creaking) (laughs) Bye.

(latch clicking) (laid-back jazz music) (laid-back jazz music continues) (laid-back jazz music continues) - I'm married to you, huh?

- Yes.

- And this is where we live.

- Yes.

- Okay.

- Look up.

(razor rasping) January 4th.

"I did realize yesterday that I do miss companionship."

(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) (paper rustling) - "Dear babe, I'm writing this letter to you to let you know that I have..." Oh, shit.

"I no longer want you to feel the pressure of performing an entire night.

I say this because I know, and I think that you know, that your mind is no longer the way it was before the stroke."

What stroke?

I had no damn stroke.

Shit.

(paper rustling) (gentle piano music continues) (children chattering indistinctly) - April 20th.

"I decided to return to work.

Work makes me extremely happy."

Good morning, fourth graders.

- [Students] Good morning, Miss Gloria.

- [Gloria] Ms.

Foster invited me to her class to speak about Junior.

It's Jazz Appreciation Month.

- [Student] What is your favorite piece by Junior Mance?

- I love "Sunset and the Mockingbird" because I think somewhere I'm the mockingbird to keep his legacy alive- - [Student] Mm.

- and he's the sunset.

(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) (gentle piano music continues) (birds chirping) At 9:30 at night, he said to me, "You know, it's time for me to go so you can live."

I said, "What?"

- I'm gonna start to cry.

(sobs) He treated you like a total princess, like, all the time, all the time.

(Gloria laughs) He treated you like the sun came up when you got up, you know, all praise to Gloria.

(laughs) I mean, he worshiped you, Ma.

- I cannot complain.

I mean, I had a beautiful life.

I can still relate to him with music.

They said, "Go with it," so guess what I do?

I'm happy.

He's happy.

Whatever he says is true.

So I live in two worlds now.

I return to my life outside, and inside apartment 3C, we travel the world and enjoy the music.

This is the last CD we recorded.

We have seven great tracks.

- What?

- Yeah, "For My Fans, It's All About You."

(item clanking) (box thuds) So you can autograph the first CD, "To my wife, my last wife."

(gentle string music) (Junior and Gloria humming) What is that?

"Hard Times."

- "Hard Times," yeah.

(Junior and Gloria humming) (gentle string music continues) (gentle string music continues) (Junior laughs) Gloria, is my wife and manager, yeah.

She's my soulmate.

We lock in together, and the beat is there.

You can't go wrong, you know?

(pensive music) This is the most satisfied I've ever been.

It's just happiness all the time, man, you know?

(bell tolling) (bell continues tolling) - [Gloria] Are you almost ready to finish up so we can get dressed?

This is the big concert.

After today- - What big concert?

- you and I will be in retirement and travel.

(Gloria laughs) We're no longer performing and having to rush to gigs.

- You'll be in retirement by your damn self.

- Oh, okay.

- [Junior] I ain't thinking about retiring.

- Okay.

(laughs) This is you and Dizzy.

Watch.

♪ Pitter, patter, patter, pitter, patter, patter ♪ ♪ Here comes the rain ♪ ♪ Pitter patter, let it pitter patter ♪ ♪ Beep, beep, beep, beep ♪ ♪ Ba, da, ba, doo, wee ♪ (audience applauding) (audience continues applauding) (gentle string music) - [Gloria] Thursday, the 17th of December.

"I was folding laundry, and I heard the thump.

And I'm thinking, 'Holy, shit, he has fallen out of the bed.'

(gentle string music continues) We got into the ER, and the nurse wanted to remove his watch.

I said, 'He has never taken that watch off.'

As a musician, everything has to do with time."

(mellow jazz music) (audience applauding) (mellow jazz music continues) (mellow jazz music continues) (mellow jazz music continues) (mellow jazz music continues) "The next day, he finally started to come around.

That was when they told me his time was short.

I sat on the bed, and he looks at me, and then he closes his eyes.

(gentle music) He wasn't breathing.

His stomach wasn't moving up and down.

I said to him, 'You just always will be part of me.'

(gentle music continues) And that was it.

I took his watch, and then they took him."

(audience applauding) (audience continues applauding) - Oh.

(seat creaking) This is a beautiful piano.

(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music continues) (no audio) (item clanking) (dog barking) (latch clicking) - [Gloria] Hi.

- How are you?

- Come in.

(gentle piano music) Yes, Tada is taking the piano, and he's gonna bring joy to everyone, right?

Junior would be so happy.

(mellow piano music) (mellow piano music continues) (tool thudding) (mellow piano music continues) (tool thudding) (mellow piano music continues) (mellow piano music continues) (Gloria laughs) (hands smacking) (Gloria laughs) Ah.

- Okay.

Thank you so much.

(Gloria laughs) - I know.

That's it.

It's the end, but the beginning, right?

(laid-back jazz music) (laid-back jazz music continues) (laid-back jazz music continues) (laid-back jazz music continues) (laid-back jazz music continues) (laid-back jazz music continues) (laid-back jazz music continues) ♪ Doo, dee, doo, doo, doo, doo, dee ♪ (Junior and Gloria laughing)