We had a most amazing show at Lucid on Saturday night! It was our first time playing at Seattle’s newest jazz club and honestly I had no idea what to expect. I had met the owner, David, and had seen the room, but you never know what’s going to happen on your maiden voyage at a new venue. Will anyone show up? Will the sound be good? Will the band adapt to the new setting? Well, what happened blew my mind!
Even before we started playing the room was starting to fill, and by the time we finished our first set it was standing room only! The vibe in the room was warm and friendly, the drinks were flowing liberally, and the band was ON.
We ran through some of the new tunes we’re working on for the recording and dusted off some old favorites as well. The new stuff went over well and our arrangements worked great in the live setting. It was fun playing “Dos Gardeniasâ€, “Three Hours†and “Idle Momentsâ€. And “Bashert†was particularly inspired, perhaps because Darrah and her family were in the house.
It was also nice to be able to invite some friends up to join us, including Richelle Gay, who sang beautifully on our mash-up of “Footprints/Summertimeâ€. My soon-to-be-cousin Keith Beesley joined us on soprano sax on “If I Were a Bell†and tore it up. Harold Rosenkrans brought is signature tenor style to Wayne Shorter’s “Adam’s Appleâ€. And Randy Powers busted out his flugel for an inspired version of Miles Davis’s “All Bluesâ€.
It was a beautiful night of music and the love in the room was palpable. David has created the kind of club that every musician wants to play and I hope you’ll go check it out when you get the chance (we’ll be back at Lucid on April 4th). And I can’t thank him enough for creating our new signature cocktail, “Parker’s Moodâ€, and donating $1 from each sale to the Micropatronage program.
And as always, it is inspiring and a true joy to play with my incredible band. Thank you Josh, Evan and D’Vonne for bringing your fire, your spirit and your love to the JPQ.
