Like many of you since the onset of COVID, I’ve been itching to be able to attend live music events and festivals. There just haven’t been many opportunities, and although I’m willing and able to travel, I’m hesitant to go to congested cities like New York until things get under better control.But on Christmas Eve Eve I felt it was safe to travel to New Brunswick, New Jersey, to see pianist and vocalist Champian Fulton with her quartet. This was outdoors in a heated tent at Tavern on George, hosted by the New Brunswick Jazz Project. It truly was “on George”: the tent was set up in the street where several other restaurants also operated out of, or more correctly, inside tents.New Brunswick evidently has an active jazz scene, and to promote it, and help keep downtown restaurants going amidst severe COVID restrictions, the city closed off at least one block of the street. The Tavern’s tent, like the others in the block, filled the entire width—about 25 feet, and was about 100 feet long. So its capacity under COVID limits was probably about 75, but perhaps because it was so close to Christmas, the crowd was smaller than that, maybe 50.Not everyone was there for the music. Those who weren’t were mostly seated toward the back of the tent, where their conversations
