Roadhouse Record Artists at Rime.

[John Doheny]

I hate to keep harping on this, but where the hell are the students in this town when performances like this happen? Do you guys sit at home every night stroking your I-Pods or something?

Every saxophone student at Cap should have grabbed this rare opportunity to hear Monik Nordine. Beautiful tone. Great ideas. Perfect execution. Deep harmonic conception. What more could you want? Pat Coleman? Is there anybody around playing more guitar than Pat nowdays? Ronnie Thompson (a guy who knows his way around a guitar) was sitting at our table, and he kept smiling and muttering 'jeeezus kee-rist' under his breath about every 16 bars.

And let's not forget the(as Lazz put it) "tiny but perfectly formed bassist" Ken Lister.

My major regret was not being able to stick around to hear Lazz himself. My wife has a day job and by 11:00 p.m. her eyes were starting to close. Sorry Lazz. Darlene wants to know when you're playing next so she can take a nap before making the gig. :-)

Really, everybody played great on this. First rate stuff from folks who don't play here often enough. Ronnie was there. Bassist Mike Patterson was there. Bob Murphy (AKA His Bob-ness/ Jesus Murphy) was there, hell, he even sat in.

Where were you?

[Allan Johnston]

"Ronnie Thompson was there (...) and he kept smiling"

Not to take anything away from the performance, but Ron could keep smiling through dental work.. ;-)

Seriously, though...I remember my student days at Cap at the turn of the '80s, when we all used to catch Pat ANY time he played. I still have a treasured tape somewhere of his first trip back here from Toronto at the Red Barrel Room, which was broadcast live on CJAZ. For those to you too young to remember, the Red Barrell was a jazz club in the basement of the Hotel Vancouver, and CJAZ was an actual jazz station, in Vancouver....

Al

[John Doheny]

For those to you too young to remember, the Red Barrell was a jazz club in the basement of the Hotel Vancouver, and CJAZ was an actual jazz station, in Vancouver....


Ah, yes. Back when dinosaurs still walked the earth.

[LAZZ]

Hey thanks, John.

I am so sorry we took so long to get my tonsils out.

Thursday's crowd was sparse (hockey night on the Drive?) but intimate so we all just relaxed and treated the whole evening like a big loose session. Hence, I didn't personally get on stage until 11.30pm. Apologies to the stalwart Darlene - whom it was an absolute delight to meet - we hope her morning start was not too damaged by our lackadaisical attitude towards the clock, and welcome your combined feet under our kitchen table before you migrate back to your other domicile.

At least you got a chance to hear the fabulous Anne Schaefer sit in with Pat's band. Isn't she amazing? And how about the young frightener pianist Brent Jarvis and the uniquely eccentric and continually risk-taking drummist Kelby MacNayr?

Friday night was packed for Brent's band and then Anne's Vancouver debut.

Ron was there again, bless his warmly beating heart. And Doug and Melodie, who I haven't seen for ages. J Korsrud Esquire. Ellie O'Day and Andre Rheaume from Radio-Canada. And all in the audience had a fabulous time being captured and stolen away by the music unfolding on stage.

Wish you could have been there to hear Brent's compositional approach animated by Pat and Ken ("small" and perfectly formed - not "tiny") and Kelby. There's a classic lineage of Evans, Jarrett, Corea, and Hancock to Meldhau, illuminating his individualistic way ahead, and for such a young and talented man to draw such cohorts around in service of his vision... well, I mean, that fact speaks volumes most eloquently in itself. He is magnetic, humble and quietly dangerous. Great writing, great playing. I love him.

I am also more than partially pre-disposed towards our new star Anne Schaefer also. Much more, in truth. Head over heels convinced. The lucky audience could do naught else but share my predelictions completely, so convincing and authentic is this woman in performance. A genuine and unpretentiously warm command and generous presence with startlingly freah and original material developed from deep musicianship and solid travels and experience as a sentient human.

Ken had run over her material just once that very afternoon but you wouldn't have been able to discern any of that with the nimble dancing sensitivity and drive he delivered to the rhythmically subtle complexities of her songs. Just Anne on various shades of detuned guitar, Ken on bass, and the captivating Kelby on drumes. Simple and rich. Wondrous. Dear Monik, having checked-out a few of the numbers on i-Pod just 5 minutes prior, was able to fulfill my dreams and join the judicious dialogue and interplay for a few tunes.

Oh yes - and a particularly fun bit of happenstance for me was the happenstance of two broken-string incidents - neither of which managed to impede in any way the emotional continuity of her performance, by the way, what an easy comfortable pro attitude she has to a room-full of strangers gathered together, she owns the room with great generosity - during which I was encouraged to temporarily distract the assembly and abett proceedings with a few bits of my own ridiculous verse. Great fun.

Schaefer is the real thing alright.
They all are.

Special bonus tracks - after the Schaefer show ended and the crowd thinned out a little while 1.00am smiled ahead in the imminent future - were from Brent sliding back onto piano to play a handful of delicate and swinging standards in trio with Ken and Kelby.

We are indebted to Çem and Emir for the opportunity to present our artists at such a great functioning live and happening warm venue as Rime. They feel like family to me already. Great food, friendly service, comfortably un-pressured environment.

Thanks for you comments about Mister Pat Coleman, Al. I have forwarded them on to him as a surprise e-mail that awaits his return from yet another recording session on yet another island with yet another lovely woman - the lovely Annie Seigel - forgive me if I mis-spelled her name.

Apologies also if I have taken too much of your time already. I always have a tendency to wax kinda prolix in such highly-charged emotional circumstances.

[kenlister]

"small" and perfectly formed - not "tiny"

Thanks, Lazz, for clearing that up.

:)