Jazz in The Georgian, February 23, 2013

We had B-3 extraordinaire Joe Doria in the house again for Jazz in The Georgian on Saturday, February 23.  This was the second time in as many months that Joe has brought his hard swinging feel and unmistakable B-3 organ sound to The Georgian at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel.  See the post of his first session last month in January.  Again, Joe and I really hit it off musically and personally.  It was just a blast playing tunes with Joe.  It isn't too often you see a B-3 and bass duo combination.  B-3 players usually kick left hand bass absent a bassist.  But, there is a synergy and chemistry that Joe and I seem to have that brings out a unique and fun performance together.  He'll be making regular appearances here in the times to come.

Got a couple good videos from the gig.  The first one is a great Cole Porter tune called All of You.  The second tune is a Joe Zawinul classic called Mercy Mercy Mercy.  We were getting funky on this one.  Got some drums and beats going on sans the drums...you'll see!  This is organic groove.  No artificial flavoring, no MSG, no artificial sweeteners, no aspartame, no pesticides, no GMO, no sequencer.  Enjoy!

All of You

Mercy Mercy Mercy

Joe Doria's website

Smooth Groove Productions

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

Please visit www.smoothgroove.net

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Jazz in The Georgian, February 8, 2013

This past Friday at Jazz in The Georgian, jazz guitarist Milo Petersen was in the house.  Milo who plays a seven string guitar is a consummate professional jazz musician.  Steeped in tradition paying homage and deep reverence to the pioneers and trailblazers of the jazz idiom, he is always striving to elevate his craft as an improviser and expanding his knowledge of songs within the Great American Songbook.  Milo has the amazing ability to be able to know lyrics to just about every jazz standard.  He has been known to sing on occasion but demurs in favor of being strictly an instrumentalist.  With such exceptional lyrical recall I feel that he could open up more opportunities for himself by adding a carefully crafted and thought out stable of songs suited for his style and range.  It would be another skill set to add to his guitar playing, and also his drumming.  Milo is also equally adept as a jazz drummer.  He plays drums with Mose Alison whenever he comes through Seattle to play at Jazz Alley.  Milo has also played drums for and backed up the likes of Larry Coryell and Eartha Kitt as well as many other great players.  It is a unique combination to be able to play both the guitar and drums at a very high level of professional accomplishment.  For one thing guitar and drums are bookends of a rhythm section whereas the drums' role is the domain of rhythm and percussion, and the guitar's (or piano) role is operative for harmony and chordal structure.  The bass sits in the middle of the two bridging the gap as a link for both rhythm and outlining harmonic structure.  It is interesting that someone like Milo can play both ends of the rhythm section spectrum and do it so well.  Now, if he could play the bass as well and add vocals to his already formidable arsenal of musical skill sets, he would truly be a complete one-man band.

Here are a couple videos from the gig.  The first one is a great jazz standard by Bennie Golson called Along Came Betty.  The second video is a take from one of the most covered popular songs with hundreds of versions released.  It's a song written in 1966 by Bobby Hebb called Sunny.

Along Came Betty

Sunny

It was a fun night of playing many tunes.  Milo is a bandleader who plays around the region as either a leader on guitar or drums.  Visit his website to see where he is playing around the area.  You can be sure to catch him here regularly at least once a month at Jazz in The Georgian.  Did I also mention that the guy is a black belt in karate?  Just a frickin' bad ass....but a guy with a big heart.

www.milopetersen.com

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

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.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter

Please visit www.smoothgroove.net

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

Smooth Groove Productions Special Event: Company Party at Escala Tower, February 1, 2013

On Friday, February 1, we had the pleasure of being a part of Modular Arts annual company party this year at Escala Tower in downtown Seattle.  Modular Arts is a Seattle-based company that produces and designs InterlockingRock panels, tiles, and blocks that are 3D wall panel materials used by designers worldwide.

Donald Kaump is the owner of Modular Arts.  He hired my jazz quartet to play for his company's annual "holiday" party.  Well, the holidays are definitely long gone, but it is not uncommon for companies to wait till after the New Year to host their annual celebrations.  December is often a month of frantic pace and the stress of vying to get Christmas shopping done on time, entertain visiting relatives, spending lots of money, and all the cooking prep and whatnot.  At the very least what better way to break up the winter with a party in February!

Donald's email to me regarding his expectations of us was very refreshing.  He said he is a fan of Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Charlie Parker, and John Zorn.  I liked where this was going.  He had no qualms about having the band making its presence known with unabashed improvisation and hard edgy playing.  We were going to dig in and play some hard swinging bop and straight ahead jazz.  For my band I assembled some of the finest players in Seattle on their respective instruments: D'Vonne Lewis on drums, Randy Halberstadt on keys, and Alexey Nikolaev on tenor sax.  What a smoking band this was.  It was a total pleasure to play with these guys.  

Here are some videos of our performance from the event:

Beautiful Love

Tenor Madness

Four

Lots of great live jazz music emanated from the dining area above the Escala Tower lobby.  Good food and drink were on hand.  There was even a belly dancing act to offer the guests something visually artistic that was graceful as well as sensual.

Much gratitude towards Donald Kaump and Modular Arts for allowing us the honor to be a part of their annual celebration.  Thank you, Donald!  I hope we can be of service again for your next events.

Smooth Groove Productions

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