Lea, surrounded by towers of cardboard boxes and Jo Mo, his 11-year-old mixed Labrador, said it's been nice hearing from well-wishers in the community.
"It's been very heartwarming," he said. "I'm getting a lot of 'We're happy for you, but please don't go.' It reflects how people feel about you, and I'm proud of that."
One of those supporters, Bryan Girard, booked Lea for the Benicia Fine Art & Jazz Festival on July 26 and numerous times for the Thursday night jazz at the Shoreline Restaurant in Benicia.
"Babatunde is a hell of a nice guy and a point of credibility for Vallejo in as much as he is one of the very few world-class jazz musicians in the area," Girard said. "And, given that he's often the first drummer I call for gigs, it will be a real loss to me personally. It is indeed a real blow to lose him."
Lea said the Benicia jazz event would be "my last big event" in the area before his Aug. 10 move, though he is back in October for a Yoshi's date.
Though Lea and variations of his quartet played at every possible event in Vallejo, it's his work in the schools that's endeared him to young people and administrators. He brought his music program to Farragut Elementary in Vallejo for five years and periodically into other schools.
Lea also treated the young people to guest appearances by jazz legends such as McCoy Tina and Regina Carter.
"The thing that I was never able to do was to get the program I dreamed about," Lea said. "Me teaching and bringing in a lot of different people."
It was discouraging, Lea said, when even appearances by Tyner wouldn't open eyes in the local educational community.
"Certain people saw that what I was doing was valuable," Lea said. "But it seems like Vallejo as a whole didn't value it or me to that level that I would have liked to have seen. The thing is, there's so much potential here, so many talented people here. I was never able to grab the brass ring. I always kept missing it every time I rode my little horse around."
Lea did see "talented and gifted" kids in Vallejo, many more than people realize, he said.
"I know that because I taught them," he said. "But there's nothing taking them from step 'A' to 'B.'"
It was also discouraging, he added, seeing the Vallejo Jazz, Art and Wine Festival stop after many years by the Yacht Club.
"It was on the verge of being an international jazz festival," Lea said. "Right on the verge. It would have brought people from all over the world to come here."
Lea shrugged.
"You have to dynamite people out of their houses here," he said. "The bedroom community is really serious. If you want to find out where everyone is on the weekend, go to Blockbuster or Hollywood Video."
Still, he said, "Vallejo is a beautiful city. You can go walk down by the yachts and everything. You can be anywhere."
Now it's packing time. And a hectic move.
"We're going to where it's beautiful, it's green and it's got four seasons," said Lea, noting that the couple will rent a four bedroom house while acclimating to Gettysburg. And it rents for about a third of what it would here.
"It's the perfect scenario for over the river and through the woods, to grandmother's house we go," Lea said smiling.
And yes, he said, he may just organize a Gettysburg jazz festival. "The school is really pro-music, pro-art, so I might just do that," Lea said.
http://www.timesheraldonline.com/thearts/ci_9594515
