All That Jazz

I've been catching quite a few shows and concerts lately, which has been fun. I love this time of year, when comps flow a bit more freely.

A couple of weeks ago, a good friend of mine and I caught Dave Brubeck and his quartet. Having a few occasions where he was either sold out before I knew about the show, or the last time, when I had tickets and he canceled, it's been a long time coming. Luckily, we got tickets way back in September and it all came to fruition this time. What fun! Great music, of course. He's a legend for a reason. And you have about 400 years of cumulative experience on the stage, which is always fun to watch.

Last night, we saw the Billy Taylor Trio. Wow. This was in the same series as Brubeck, but I wasn't nearly as familiar with his work (outside of his work with Coleman Hawkins). He's truly amazing. And his trio is equally as exciting, musically. Within the first few bars of the first tune, I leaned over and whispered to my friend "I want to have access to that drummer!". The drummer and bass player (Chip Jackson) each got jaw-droppingly more amazing as the evening progressed.

Theatre-wise, I haven't seen that much of note lately. I did get to go to the final dress rehearsal of the "Collected Stories" revival. It's very much worth seeing, if you're able. Linda Lavin gave a remarkable performance, perhaps her best yet. If she doesn't get a Tony nod, I'll be surprised. Of course, attending a dress rehearsal for a Broadway show was pretty cool on its own.

I'm looking forward to the Tony announcements, but it's been kind of a lackluster season, so I'm curious to see what will come out of it.

Lots of upcoming jazz shows, though... Karrin Allyson and Kurt Elling are both playing this month, for starters. We'll see what the comp gods bring to the table, too.