Enjoying Cooler Weather with Hotter Jazz!

ThePop-Up Piano Bar at the downtown Coronet Restaurant gathers a fun group of amateur and professional singers for various solos, duets and general sing-a-longs. Hostess Briggs Clinco and master piano man Marco Rosano encourage the crowd to take to the mic and belt one out. There are hundreds of lyrics and well known tunes on their website and if there is anything you want to sing that isn’t on that site, just let Marco know a few days in advance and he’ll have all the right notes in order for your turn! Besides offering free on-site parking (a plus in the downtown area) they feature many creative seasonal dishes and delicious shareable items. This evening had several cast members from current local theater productions which added to the frivolity.

A few days later, the Transatlantic Guitar Trio was featured at the Berger Center for the Performing Arts on the west side. It is a beautiful venue and the seats are plush and high above anyone’s head in closer rows. The “arch” of the rows assures excellent visual sighting of the stage and the acoustics are first-class. The Guitar Trio had Nashville’s own Richard Smith and Rory Hoffman with Joscho Stephan from Germany. Rory is blind and plays his guitar in a horizontal position. He also plays a dozen stringed, keyboard and wind instruments…and he whistles! One of the more unusual instruments in his bag of tricks included a Xaphoon—a pocket sax—a small single-reed, keyless woodwind instrument originally developed in Maui, Hawaii, in 1972. Usually created out of bamboo, Rory mentioned that his was resin-based.

The group touched on many genres of music, including tunes made famous by the Beatles, Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, Chet Atkins, The Beach Boys and others. It was a beautiful performance!

A few days later it was off to the local Sheraton Hotel in mid-town and its Glowbal venue to see Sheryl Ann Mckinley (v) and her quartet with Max Goldschmid (tp,sax,flugel), Sly Slipetsky (p) and Jack Wood (bs). The venue is well attended and the bar-bites are reasonable and delicious. She always has a good turnout at these events.

The next week we again wanted to catch Sheryl Ann with trumpeter Jason Carder at Cielos Restaurant in the Lodge On The Desert—another local mid-town venue. I hadn’t seen Jason for quite a while and was anxious to hear him with Max on keyboard and Jack Wood on bass guitar. Again, another lovely evening on the enclosed patio of a local iconic venue was delightful!

A few days later it was off to the Gaslight Theatre for their current melodrama Hocus Pocused or Witch, Please! These are always fun and entertaining musicals with lots of innuendo in a family- welcoming setting. The shows are pretty much always sold out and the young and attentive staff somehow manages to provide excellent service during the busy and hectic performances with their consistent American fare.

Turns out the three Sandelwood Sisters have awakened from their 300 year slumber to terrorize the Salem town square, its graveyard and forest! Perennial favorite Mike Yarema is the town savior and Steve Acker is the out-of-town visitor that gets caught up in the magical mess along with his little brother and a few other of Salem’s notorious inhabitants. With a spooky piano, drum and guitar trio providing all of the necessary music to the on-stage antics, the audience is encouraged to “boo” the villains and “cheer” for the good guys, truly an interactive and fun evening!

Next, another evening at the Sheraton Glowbal to see Sheryl Ann Mckinley with Max Goldschmid (tenor, tb) and Sly Slipetsky (p) and special guest Evan Dain (bs) for an always rousing night of great tunes and enjoyable friendship.

The downtown Century Room at the Hotel Congress had an evening with Tucson’s notable professor and long time pillar of its jazz community, Jeff Haskell (p)—I hadn’t seen Professor Haskell in many years and always credited him with pointing me in the right directions to experience live jazz at festivals and specific events showcasing the music we both love. He and his former student vocalist, Katherine Byrnes, presented an evening of Gershwin’s American Songbook classic tunes with Brice Winston (sax,flute), Thoger Lund (bs), the Century Room’s own Artistic Director, Arthur Vint (dr) and Jason Carder (tp). I love the Century Room’s intimate presence and it was a beautiful set showcasing Katherine’s broad vocal multi-octive range. She also gave some background information on both George and Ira as each tune was introduced. The historical references were put in context and provided the audience with an even better understanding of these familiar and well-known arrangements. A Porgy & Bess medley was extraordinarily beautiful and heart wrenching and I got to see and hear Jason Carder twice in one week!!

The month ended up as it began back at the Coronet for a Pop-Up Piano Bar evening with Briggs Clinco (v) and Marco Rosano (p) encouraging even more members of the audience to sing solo or along with others. The evening always ends with the tune “We’ll Meet Again” and yes, we will… and we do know where and when!