Jeff (Barnhart) and Joel (Schiavone)’s House Party started small nine years ago, but has outgrown several venues as its reputation has spread. At first it really was a house party—at Joel’s house in Guilford, Connecticut—but those quarters quickly became too small. For the past three years it’s been at the Elks lodge in Branford, the next town west of Guilford, on Long Island Sound. This hall comfortably accommodates 100 people with room for a dance floor and tables where the meals that are included in the ticket price are prepared and served by an outside caterer. I found the culinary offerings of as high a quality as the musical fare.
I was only able to attend the Friday evening and Saturday sessions, as I needed to attend the Tri-State Jazz Society’s monthly concert Sunday afternoon. So this will be an incomplete report, although your editor and his wife were there and he may want to fill in what I missed. It appeared that all the sessions were close to full capacity, although it was announced Saturday afternoon that seats for that evening and for Sunday were still available.
Jeff is well known to readers of this paper as a formidable pianist and bon vivant; his name and/or photo appears in practically every issue, appearing as he does at literally dozens of festivals here and abroad every year. Joel’s fame is less widespread outside of New Haven, but he was the
