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Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Jazz in The Georgian, July 19, 2013


Super tenor saxophonist Alexey Nikolaev was back in The Georgian Restaurant inside The Fairmont Olympic Hotel for more tenor sax and bass duo combo at Jazz in The Georgian.  It's a real privilege and treat to be able to play with one of the very best sax players in the region as well as international level.  Alexey, a native of Moscow, Russia, is a gentleman who is always warm and gracious with whom to work.  We have a couple video highlights from our gig this evening and also a video from last month's gig.

This first song is a wonderful ballad called Autumn in New York.
Autumn in New York


Sir Paul McCartney was performing a concert at Safeco Field at the very moment Alexey and I were playing.  It would have been great to see the former legendary Beatle, but, hey, we were working.  In his honor we played one of his famous tunes that he co-wrote with that other legendary Beatle John Lennon called Yesterday.
Yesterday


This last video was actually from our gig together on June 21 last month.  This is an excellent rendition of a great Cole Porter tune called You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To.
You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To



We hope that you enjoy these songs from our gig.  But there is nothing like being there to witness live performance.  We invite you to come out to The Georgian and see Alexey and I play live.  Alexey Nikolaev will be back for Jazz in The Georgian on Friday, August 23.










Please visit our YouTube channel to see and hear highlights of Jazz in The Georgian, and Smooth Groove Productions special events.




Follow us on:




Jazz in The Georgian every Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm-10pm at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, 411 University Street, Seattle, Washington 98101, 206-621-7889.


For booking inquiries of Emmanuel del Casal Jazz Ensembles,
please write to emman@smoothgroove.net
Or, call us at 1-866-771-2500.



Elevate your event with live music.  We don't miss a beat!

Jazz in The Georgian, July 20, 2013


On Saturday, July 20, 2013 guitarist Paul Sawyer was in the house for Jazz in The Georgian at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel.  Paul is an old friend whom he and I go back many years.  We had a very enjoyable time playing lots of tunes and standards.  Here are a couple of video highlights from our gig.

This video is a version of a great Duke Ellington song called Prelude To A Kiss.  We play this version as a waltz in 3/4 time.
Prelude To A Kiss


Here is a great jazz tune to play called Solar by Miles Davis
Solar








Please visit our YouTube channel to see and hear highlights of Jazz in The Georgian, and Smooth Groove Productions special events.




Follow us on:




Jazz in The Georgian every Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm-10pm at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, 411 University Street, Seattle, Washington 98101, 206-621-7889.


For booking inquiries of Emmanuel del Casal Jazz Ensembles,
please write to emman@smoothgroove.net
Or, call us at 1-866-771-2500.



Elevate your event with live music.  We don't miss a beat!

Monday, July 15, 2013

Jazz in The Georgian, July 12, 2013


On Friday, July 12, 2013 my good friend John Hansen was back in the house for Jazz in The Georgian at the fabulous The Fairmont Olympic Hotel in the heart of downtown Seattle.  This session was an especially on night.  We played lots of great tunes in which the energy was high and the feel was swinging hard.  John is the hardest swinging bop jazz pianist in town.


I've been videotaping these gigs in The Georgian for over a year now and posting select videos on my YouTube channel.  The Sansung W300 pocket camcorder has been the video capturing device along with my Boss BR600 digital 8-track recorder for audio capture.  In the editing process I sync the video minus the camcorder sound with the better recording of the digital recorder, which has good results.  Normally per gig, I'll get one or two good takes of songs that are worthy of making into a video and posting up on YouTube. My goal is to get just one decent video out of the more than two hours of video footage from the gig.  This evening was one of those nights that felt great and high musicality was abundant.  Out of the eighteen tunes we played on this four-hour gig, almost everything we played was really on.  I made five videos but I'm just posting four for now.  And, there were more songs that could have made the cut to become a video.  It was a total blast to play with John.  Nights like these remind and ground me to as what this musical career of playing gigs is all about.  Of course it's also essential to get paid for what we do as professionals.  Certain nights come together musically more so than others and this was one of those nights.  I hope you enjoy these selections.

The first tune of the evening is called Alone Together.  This set the tone for the rest of the evening.
Alone Together


Come Rain Or Come Shine is a really great fun standard to play.
Come Rain Or Come Shine


Here's a blues tune by the late great bebop pianist Bud Powell called Dance Of The Infidels.
Dance Of The Infidels


This song was the last one we played for the evening.  It didn't get captured on video but the audio recording of John's blazing solo was too good not to share.  This is Herbie Hancock's One Finger Snap.
One Finger Snap




John Hansen will be back for more hard bop jazz playing in August.  Stay tuned for scheduling updates on Facebook and Twitter.





  

Please visit our YouTube channel to see and hear highlights of Jazz in The Georgian, and Smooth Groove Productions special events.




Follow us on:




Jazz in The Georgian every Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm-10pm at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, 411 University Street, Seattle, Washington 98101, 206-621-7889.


For booking inquiries of Emmanuel del Casal Jazz Ensembles,
please write to emman@smoothgroove.net
Or, call us at 1-866-771-2500.



Elevate your event with live music.  We don't miss a beat!

Monday, July 8, 2013

Jazz in The Georgian, July 5, 2013


On Friday, July 5, 2013 jazz guitarist Ron Peters was in the house for Jazz in The Georgian at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle.  We had an excellent post July 4 gig.  Here's a taste of what we did.

Alone Together






Please visit our YouTube channel to see and hear highlights of Jazz in The Georgian, and Smooth Groove Productions special events.




Follow us on:




Jazz in The Georgian every Friday and Saturday nights, 6pm-10pm at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, 411 University Street, Seattle, Washington 98101, 206-621-7889.


For booking inquiries of Emmanuel del Casal Jazz Ensembles,
please write to emman@smoothgroove.net
Or, call us at 1-866-771-2500.



Elevate your event with live music.  We don't miss a beat!