From the sublime to the sublime to the . . .

Words cannot do Stanley Jordan justice.  By the time he was done people were crying, were saying he was channeling some alternate universe, was on a higher plane than the rest of us.  Check him out on YouTube.  Jack Garner introduced him as four guitars in one man.  He used both hands on the neck of his guitar, each playing a different part, then he added the piano, (where did that third hand come from?) and when he finally had to admit he was short a hand he used his chin, or was it his teeth, on the top of neck to strum an open chord he found someplace among the other notes he was already playing.  Oh yes, he took his music from Mozart, Bartok, jazz standards, and anyplace else he could find them.  On YouTube you will find videos with him performing with Les Paul and with Chet Atkins. 

It was hard to imagine we could be further moved until we heard Viktoria Tolstoy at the Lutheran Church.  As predicted by the review of her performance on Sunday the first half was fine, but by the second half of the show the tight connection of her band and singing united to thrill us into sitting very still so as not miss a nuance.  Where to go from that?

Could not get into the Tent to hear Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, it was packed with a line out to Main Street.  So we went on to Xerox to hear Robin McKelle a local performer who has made her mark in Europe and returned to Rochester, at least to own a house and play for us.  We could not get in on the main floor and had to ascend to the upper reaches of Xerox Aud, the balcony.  Great view of the tops of heads, everyone is a bit foreshortened from up there but the sound is great.  We expected a fine show from the previews and from people who heard her earlier show, but our expectations were reduced because of the two great shows we had already heard.  Wrong! she was wonderful.  Her style is more polished performance with some small talk but the substance was great and her band were really together.  Three for three.

Could we keep the string going?  It might have been, but with such great shows under our belt the Kilbourn group Bassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba’s material seemed repetitious and not really interesting.  As a stand alone show it was probably stupendous, but it had some mighty competition.  We moved on  after 25 minutes to Max to hear the second Cuban pianist Hilario Duran Trio.  His cerebral performance (quoting the D&C reviewer) was also exceedingly good, but we were tired and Carol could not get into it as much as I could, so we started walking for home before the last number.

The tally; we were in five venues for performances on night 4 brining the total number of performances on our Club Pass to 17, so far.  Where can you find a better entertainment value?  $105 invested in December (based on one Club Pass) and we have already had $350 worth of great performances with five nights to go.  I wish my stock investments performed as well.

Night 5 will start at Montage with Miami Sax Quartet and we plan to get to Abilene for Rosie Ledet & The Zydeco Playboys.  Looking at the list it seems we will also try to get to the Lutheran Church – I’m beginning to feel like a member already – and Xerox. 

Click on any of the links to read more about the performers and follow a link up to see the whole schedule – it is daunting to view in its entirety.  Actually each day it is a challenge to map out a route, taking into account the groups we want to see and the logistics of time, place and expected wait time in line.  Dinner is mostly a matter of picking up something handheld to chow on while walking to the next venue.  Onward!