Not exactly an intimate little jazz club setting (smile) but the Ziad Jazz Quartet and their stellar guest musicians made us all forget everything but the music. And what music it was! The Quartet opened with Take Five and Blue Rondo a la Turk. Gangbusters! And the entire evening remained so! Some...just SOME...of the highlights: Toni Tupponce wowed the crowd with a heartfelt rendition of At Last, Rick Simerly did a long, complex trombone solo that received a standing ovation, Jim Brock made his exotic percussion instruments talk and sing, Bechtler Vice President Christopher Lawing (who has a VERY good voice...and is quite a ham) cracked the crowd up with his singing and antics, and Maria Howell charmed everyone with her unique mixture of glamour, talent and comedic sensibility. Her scatting (and clowning) with pianist Noel Freidline was a joy! Saxophonist and group leader Ziad Rabie was, of course, superb. He and a guest saxophonist (who tours with Prince) had a couple of duels. Both players were challenged a bit to be even better. Jon Thornton and the other horn players really got into Herbie Hancocks Watermelon Man. Ron Brendle proved again his mastery of both the upright AND electric bass. And drummers Rick Dior and Alfred Sergel IV provided a solid heartbeat all evening. One solo by Dior showed what he had learned from studying for years with Joe Morello, Dave Brubecks memorable drummer. Whew! I apologize for the long post. But such a big evening deserves a big description.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 13:24:06 +0000
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