Smooth Groove Productions Blog: 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.