My wife and I celebrated our Anniversary last nite. We were gonna go out to dinner, just the two of us, and leave our sons home with a pizza. But when we decided to go to a very nice Chinese restaurant in town that had a jazz combo playing, we changed our minds and brought the kids with us. They are both in Band at school, and my oldest just joined the school's jazz band last week (He plays clarinet and tenor saxophone.) and I knew they'd enjoy a show like this.
So the combo is pretty good:keyboard, flute, drum kit, and vocals. The singer is a very tall, slender and attractive woman, the keyboardist is an older gentleman with a singing style that reminds me of Randy Newman. They even played one of my requests, "Linus and Lucy" by Vince Guaraldi (Important Note:Always address your requests with generous "postage"...)
Okay, so I'm getting to the neat part of the story:
We got there late at the end of the dinner cycle (after 8) so the restaurant was lightly populated by this point, and the family and friends of the owners were starting to arrive for the "real" Chinese food after closing time (all Chinese places seem to do this:chase the "Gwailo's" out, and start the party with the extended family after close...). So one of the little girls, around 10 or so, gets up on stage with the singer, and starts to do a very cute and passable version of "Girl From Ipanema". So I could tell that this a pretty fun and relaxed group on stage. We were getting ready to leave, so I was giving them a parting tip in the jar, and chatting with the keyboardist. He jokingly was asking if anyone else wanted to sing, and I told him I don't sing. And then started bragging about my kids and especially my oldest, about how he won the school talent show last year playing "Nice Work if You Can Get It" on his clarinet. He asked if we had brought his instrument tonight, but of course, we didn't. But while I'm talking to the keyboardist, my son is talking to the singer, and before I realize it, he's agreeing to get up on stage and sing "Nice Work". And even with a hoarse throat, he did a good job! The singer was impressed that he knew when to step back in to singing after the intrumental break, without missing a beat.
The keyboardist encouraged him to bring his clarinet in next time, and they'd let him sit in with them on a song! Is this awesome, or what? What a great attitude to have, encouraging young talent instead of ignoring or belittling it! My son felt 10 feet tall after that, and you can bet we will be coming back very soon to take them up on that offer.
And then, small world! Turns out I went to High School with the singer! We were both in Vocal Music our Sophomore year, and I remember her as a very beautiful, talented young woman. It's nice to see that none of that changed. She attended one of the best universtities in the country for Performing Arts (all of our State's Miss Americas have come from OCU, as well as several well known actors and actresses). She is married to the keyboard player, and has been for 20 years. It was nice to catch up with her after 25 years!
And what's cool is that this gives us another "in" with the band, and hopefully, they'll stand by their offer to let my son play with them. As any musician knows, a gig is a gig, and even getting five minutes in front of a live audience helps in the way of experience.
Anyway, to think I almost stuck them at home with a pizza! Glad I brought them along!