Last Thursday we appeared with Joanna Lee on WTVR’s Virginia This Morning.  Joanna read two poems while we backed her first with Hoagy Carmichael’s Skylark, then Thelonious Monk’s ‘Round Midnight.  It was a great time, and you can experience it too. We’ll accompany the Poetry Tasting on 12/29 at C’est le Vin in Shockoe Bottom from 6-8, with a set of jazz afterwards. Looking forward to seeing you there!  We’ve got details at the top of the home page, here’s the video:

At our recent late September appearance at C’est le Vin we arrived to find we were double-booked.  But what could have turned out bad ended up a happy accident because we overlapped by an hour with  a “poetry tasting“.  We found that poetry, jazz, wine, and great food go together well as we accompanied some of the poets with atmospheric jazz selected to match the theme of the poem.  It was a great time and great to meet very friendly and creative artists.  It will all happen again as we play next Thursday October 27 where there will be a full night of poetry from 6-8 and jazz from 8-10, with some overlap in there as well.  See you there!

We’re pleased to announce that starting on September 1 we’ll play monthly Thursdays 7:00 – 9:00 pm at C’est le Vin, 15 North 17th Street, Richmond, in Shockoe Bottom.  C’est le Vin is a unique wine bar with a menu of savory foods, eclectic wines, and local arts.  They’ve been a great supporter of jazz in Richmond and we’re looking forward to playing a regular date there, be sure and stop by to see us!

After a fast finish to June with the TV appearance and very last Bin22 show, July was equally exciting with great house parties and two public appearances.  Thanks to Rhetta, Tony, Vickie, and David for great times at their house parties that featured duo and quartet arrangements. In the duo setting Randy and I played light background music, setting a relaxing backdrop. The quartet delivered straight ahead jazz and then opened it up to get all the way down into the blues.  Great times!

This summer featured the inaugural Innsbrook jazz series, and we opened the show the night of the 18th – hot weather and hot jazz! Finally we played for the very first time at Crossroads Coffee and Ice Cream on the south side.  The five-year-old dancers made the evening!

June 30 was quite a day.  We appeared and played two songs on Virginia This Morning on WTVR Channel 6. One was Monk’s version of Sweet Georgia Brown that he called Bright Mississippi.  Charles and Randy insisted that Bob pull out the blues harp.  You can see the results at our Video and Audio page or at WTVR.  Our favorite shot is the camera man grooving out.  The second song was the Leon Russell standard This Masquerade, which is front and center on our home page.  Check out Randy scatting over his solo just like George Benson.  Thanks much to Owen Weeks for sitting in with us on bass, Owen you did a fantastic job.  Thanks also to the folks at WTVR for their kind reception, making us feel so at home, and making it easy to play “on TV!”.

That same evening we played what may be our last event at Bin22. After six years cultivating a fabulous atmosphere in downtown Carytown Greg is selling out to spend more time with the family. We’ll miss you Greg, thanks a million for the many great evenings!  Last Thursday was one of them, Randy, Charles, and Bob were joined by trumpeter Dave Pilsbury on a delightful summer evening, and a full patio of appreciative folks.  Thanks to everyone who came out, you made it a great time!

Look for us at the Innsbrook Monday Jazz Festival on the 18th from 5 to 7:00, and start the weekend early on July 21, 7:00 – 10:00 at Crossroads Coffee & Ice Cream on the Southside. Looking forward to seeing you there, and thanks especially to Stu for hooking us up there.  Details on both appearances are at the top of our home page.

Happy 4th everyone!

Our May date at Bin22 was another great time. Charles, Randy, and Bob entertained a nice group on the patio that seemed to be digging the tunes and the unexpectedly nice weather. Thanks especially to Frank who requested Take 5 (we always enjoy requests – especially if we know them!) and regaled us with tales of his days as a steward on Air Force One. Yes Frank you even further proved that we all put them on one leg at a time!

The end of June is going to be busy, with appearances on Virginia This Morning on the 30th (Channel 6 in Richmond, Va, 9:00 – 10:00 AM), the Shoppes at Innsbrook date TBD (5:00 – 7:00 pm, directions: http://www.innsbrookshoppes.com/location.htm), and our regular date at Bin22 also on the 30th, 7:00 – 9:00 pm (Cary and Auburn in Carytown).

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Last Thursday at Bin22 it was touch and go there for our duo date with Randy and Bob.  We set up under the canopy on the patio just in case and sure enough a storm with light rain but active lightning and thunder came in just as we started. We figured what the heck and played anyway.  The rain passed by quickly, the air cooled to the perfect temperature, and it turned out to be a great evening.  Thanks for the kind words from those on the patio and across the street (that’s you Steve!), and we appreciate Gretchen and Randy stopping by with Gretchen’s mom.  Randy it was great to talk with you about chromatic harmonicas, Jean Thielemans (known to George Shearing as John Tillman), and Sissy – we wish her the very best.

If you are ever in the Southern Maryland area for the evening look for Gretchen and Randy, who frequently play their “Jazz Cabaret” at Cafe Des Artistes.

We’ll see you back at Bin22 on May 26!

Thanks to all who came out to Bin22 to hear Charles, Randy, and I in our drums, guitar, and harmonica arrangement last Thursday, we really appreciate those who came and all your kind words. The atmosphere was excellent for our first set, with a private party going on in the sofa area and folks trickling in as we went through some standards.  The second set went all the way from Skylark to Cold Duck Time, then Bob turned on the Chicago blues harp sound and Randy stepped up to the mic to sing Mustang Sally!  Great times, thanks again for coming out!

This weekend we added some new sound samples to our Video and Audio page, some one minute clips from our recent Hermitage Country Club appearance for the Goochland Chamber of Commerce.  Ok the Hermitage gig was a while ago, but again day jobs got in the way of timely editing and posting.

We played for the pre-dinner cocktail hour, and David Tennenholtz sat in with us since Randy couldn’t make it that evening.  Randy did send along his Zoom recorder with which we laid down the entire gig in mp3 format. As you can hear everyone had a great time – lots of fun going on in the background!

The new tracks include Just Friends, All of Me, us trading fours on Stella By Starlight, and the end of Bob’s solo and beginning of Brian’s nice arco solo on the Theme from Black Orpheus.

Stella is one of my favorites, the theme of the Ray Milland/Ruth Hussey/Donald Crisp classic The Uninvited, and of course covered by all the greats.  My favorite version might be Chet Baker’s understated take, here played live in Tokyo.

See you at Bin22 on the 31st!

A couple of weeks ago Randy, Bob, and drummer Charles Hibbler hit Bin22 in our “Blue Stripes” configuration, jamming on the standards as well as a bit of rock and roll – we had a request for Neil Young so we went right into After the Gold Rush.  A rainy night but a good time.  Look for us back at Bin22 on Thursday March 31.  Hopefully we’ll be out on the porch again, see you there!