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!
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.
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.
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.
On January 25 and 26 at Jazz in The Georgian we featured two outstanding jazz guitarists: Ron Peters and Paul Sawyer. Here are a couple videos from both nights.
Jazz in The Georgian every Friday night Saturday nights, 6pm-10pm at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel, 411 University Street, Seattle, WA 98101, 206-621-7889.
On Sunday, January 27, we participated in a unique wedding show called Weddings in Woodinville. It was our first time doing this show that debuted four years ago. The show takes place at seven wineries in Woodinville, WA. Each winery is assigned an event planner who is in charge of organizing and putting together vendors from each discipline that serves a function in a wedding. The vendors were all seasoned wedding professionals ranging from caterers, photographers, live entertainers, DJs, limo services, wedding planners, decor, cakes/desserts, floral, and more.
We were at The Woodhouse Wine Estates with Chesney Schmidt who was the planner for this small yet elegant venue with grande chandeliers suspended from the ceilings. The show started at 11am and ended at 5pm. The plan was to have brides, grooms, their family, and friends take a tour of the participating wineries while procuring the services of the vendors necessary for their wedding. Butler Seattle provided chauffeur-driven luxury transportation escort between each venue. This event was a great way to showcase the many different types of wedding vendors as well as expose people to each unique winery of the tour. It was a great day to gather information for future weddings and to taste stellar wines along each stop. A brilliant combination!
I brought my jazz trio to showcase ourselves and to provide the live entertainment for our venue at The Woodhouse Wine Estate Winery. I had a couple great veteran pros on hand: tenor saxophonist and flutist Tony Rondolone and jazz guitarist Ron Peters. These guys are seasoned players that come to the table with decades of musical experience and knowledge. It's a great pleasure to perform with musicians that know very many songs in the Great American Songbook. We just called tunes and played absent any written music charts.
Here is a video from the show of my jazz trio. This is a tuned called Out of Nowhere done as a Latin/Brazilian rhythm called a bossa nova. Interesting trivia: I just learned (from a buddy--so don't pin me to this) that the original Star Trek theme was derived from this old standard. Gene Roddenberry asked Alexander Courage to compose the theme around the melody of Out of Nowhere. Listen for the similarities. Check it out: "Space the final frontier...where no man has gone before"....."Out of Nowhere".....get it?!
Out of Nowhere.....where no man has gone before.....
Tony Rondolone on flute playing Swinging Shepard Blues
It was a great day at Weddings in Woodinville. We were happy and grateful that Smooth Groove Productions got to be a part of this fantastic show. We are proud to be associated with many of the best professionals in this business. It was fun to see familiar colleagues and industry peers. We met many nice people who will be hitched together sometime in the near future. We hope we get the privilege of being a part of these folk's very special day. We would love to be the live music soundtrack for their wedding.
Guitarist Frank Seeberger was in the house this past Friday at Jazz in The Georgian. We played lots of tunes and had a great time. Here are a couple cuts from the gig. This first one is great tune by Bronislau Kaper called Invitation.
Invitation
Here is a song by the great legendary jazz guitarist Wes Montgomery called Four On Six.
On Sunday, January 13, my jazz trio played for The Fairmont Olympic Hotel's annual staff party. It is a gala event in which about four hundred of the hotel's employees and their spouses celebrate the end of 2012 and a fresh start for 2013. The night started out in the Spanish Ballroom Foyer where hors d'oeuvres and cocktails got everyone in the right attitude. My jazz trio with pianist John Hansen and tenor saxophonist Brian Kent set the sonic ambient tone with some stellar live jazz music.
At the end of the cocktail hour, all the guests sauntered into the elegant and posh Spanish Ballroom for a marvelous three-course meal by Executive Chef Gavin Stephenson. The theme for this year's party was the roaring 1920's. General Manager Dennis Clark looked uncannily like Robert De Niro's character of Al Capone in the Untouchables. The hotel staff party is an opportunity for recognition and to award employees and managers whom have been exemplary in the roles of their jobs. It is also an opportunity to celebrate a great past year as lots of accolades abound for the tremendous staff at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel.
Costume party, break dancers, dancer execs, casino games, DJ, and dancing. It was a great event that we were happy to have been a part of!
For your next special event, elevate it with live music. We don't miss a beat!
