Junior Mance @ the Blue Note in NYC

I had the great pleasure of venturing up to NYC Sunday to see Junior Mance at the Blue Note in Greenwich Village. He is one of the finest jazz pianists and one whose work I've come to admire.

http://www.juniormance.com/index.php

When I told him I was very much in love with his work and it was a pleasure to finally hear him play, his face lit up. He indulged me with a photo :) It was absolute heaven to hear him play "For Dancers Only" I LOVE his version of that song. Here are two clips from the performance:









I discovered that I loved Junior Mance when I heard his version of "For Dancers Only" What a fabulous Sunday afternoon...brunch, live jazz, NYC. What more could you ask for?

Solomon Douglas @ Glen Echo 7/7/2007

An encore of the Solomon Douglas Swingtet @ our dance back in July of 2007.

Cape May Jazz Festival

This past weekend we headed up to Cape May for their fall jazz festival. Amazing time! I loved dancing to Houston Pearson (I'm a sucker for sax). And Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers definitely tore it up. (I'm still second-lining.) But the highlight of the weekend was this man:


That's the amazing Ernie Andrews, with Rayned, Laurie Zimmerman from Philly, and me. We were fortunate enough to attend a rehearsal and his two evening sets. I loved his songs before, but I had no idea what a powerful entertainer he was until this weekend. He kept us laughing and crying all night long. Here's what we ate during the second set:


Pears, soaked in port, covered in chocolate, served on top of a raspberry sauce, a special gift for us from the kitchen. It was lovely with my coffee and cognac.