On Sunday, August 10, The Seattle Yacht Club held a Jazz Night for their club members in the Marine Room. I was invited by Assistant General Manager and Catering Director Amy Shaftel to bring in my jazz duo to perform for the occasion. It was a very warm summer night with the temperature above the mid 80's. There was a possibility the event would be held outdoors, but the intense afternoon sun kept the heat high outside and the performance was relegated indoors at the club's restaurant. Amy and I are fellow NACE members. NACE is the largest and oldest catering association in the world. The acronym stands for National Association of Catering and Events. I have been a member of NACE since 2000 and have met many catering professionals such as Amy with whom I have established relationships as colleagues and friends over the many years. NACE has been a wonderful organization for my business in terms of networking and connecting with other professionals in the special events industry. These relationships have led to many gigs and work for my musical groups such as weddings, corporate functions, and private special occasions. Amy and I attended a monthly local NACE meeting a few months earlier and happened to be sitting at the same table that night. As often the case, it was serendipitous that she was looking to book a jazz act for this August Jazz Night at the Seattle Yacht Club, and I happened to be sitting next to her. I was hired by her pretty much on the spot. Did I say that NACE is wonderful?
My pianist John Hansen joined me on this night. John is one of the stellar jazz pianists of Seattle. He is a hard bop player who plays with a very swinging rhythmic style and old school bebop vocabulary. I have known John since our days at the University of Washington as undergrad students in the music department. This is going back to the mid-80's or so. John and I have played together regularly for the last several years. He is a frequent guest artist for my Jazz in The Georgian gig at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle. It was a fun evening and we had a great time playing for the members of the Seattle Yacht Club.
Here are videos of some of the songs that we played.
We started out the evening playing a Cole Porter standard called What Is This Thing Called Love.
What Is This Thing Called Love
This is another great standard called It Could Happen To You by Jimmy Van-Heusen.
It Could Happen To You
For the last tune of the evening, we played a blues by the late great tenor saxophonist John Coltrane. This one is called Mr. Sims.
Mr. Sims
I would just like to extend a warm thanks and gratitude to Amy Shaftel for giving us the opportunity to play for the club members. Also, a thank you goes out to the manager of the Marine Room, Sam Looney who was very supportive and helpful towards us as well as all of the bar and wait staff in the room.
I hope we get another opportunity to play again for the Seattle Yacht Club. When it happens you'll hear about it!
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For booking inquiries of Emmanuel del Casal Jazz Ensembles,
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