First off, I’m so sorry for the silence. I got busy at the end of the year and have been remiss in my blogging duties. I hereby pledge to do better, and reserve the right not to, just in case. ;>)
Since last we spoke, Josh and I played our first gig at Tutta Bella and had a blast! That night was also the Columbia City tree-lighting ceremony, so there were lots of folks about in the streets and restaurants. Tutta Bella was so packed, in fact, that we had to wait until the people eating at the table on our stage were done with dessert and coffee before we could set up! That’s OK, though, because it gave me time to chat with Katy Bourne, a fabulous Jazz singer and the woman who books the music at Tutta Bella. Katy was having dinner with her family and we had a nice time drinking Chianti and chatting about music, being a working musician and who makes the best pizza!
Once Josh and I got to playing, we had a great time. We haven’t played as a duo in a while, but we settled back in pretty quickly. He’s such a great player and an even better listener, and with just the two of us, we can really communicate and throw ideas back and forth. We played some arrangements of holiday tunes, some standards and a few originals. Of course, I couldn’t resist throwing in a few quotes from “Hava Nagila” during the Christmas Carols, which Josh immediately picked up on. It then became the running gag for the evening, for better or worse. Thanks to our new friend Christina from Napoli for the pictures!
Last night, we played at the top of the Columbia Tower during a Microsoft holiday party. We were joined by the great D’vonne Lewis on drums, and he helped us lay down some swingin’ tunes. Highlights included my own arrangement of “We Three Kings”, done in the style of John Coltrane’s “My Favorite Things”, and Troy’s original tune “Emoticon Makeout Party”, which we’ve been really having fun playing recently.
This Saturday, we’ll play our first show at Caffe Bella in downtown Seattle…hope to see you there!
