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The irony of it: Jazz On the Pond, InConcert Sierra's free fundraiser, scheduled for September pond-side in the elegant gardens of Joan and Lance Goddard's, was canceled due to unseasonable rain. Rescheduled for November indoors the concert took place on a day of bright late-autumn sunshine.
So Sunday was the first, and perhaps the last, Jazz Off the Pond, performed before a full house in the old Alpha Building in downtown Nevada City. “A high spot of my musical calendar,” said one fan.
The change of venue didn't affect the music, only the taste of the picnic. Everybody knows that food tastes better out-of-doors.
The trio of Ken Hardin, piano, Kit Bailey, percussion, and Mickey Bennett, bass, offered a comforting program mainly of jazz standards – how many ways can there be of playing “Sophisticated Lady”? Hardin showed an impressive range of influences, but especially relished David Benoit's rich and expressive “If I Could Reach Rainbows” and his own driving arrangement of Van Morrison's “Moondance.”
Though the trio does not play together regularly they are definitely attuned to each other, with Bennett's confident striding, when not brooding, bass and Bailey's restrained pulsing drumming.
They were joined for four numbers by infectious local singer Sarah Pressler, including a high energy “Cry Me a River” and a passionate “It Never Entered my Mind.” Special guest James May sang his own touching “Don't Let Go.” Standards have to start somewhere so why not here?
The warm-up act Then Again, the trio of Kathy Chastain, vocals, James May, guitar and vocals, Steve Nicholson, bass and vocals, showed off the popular local band, who focus on memorable and hummable classic rock mainly from the 60s and 70s.
The music was stylish, no guitars smashed, no pyrotechnics. The arrangements were instantly recognizable recreations of the originals. Many of the audience (much grey hair in evidence) lip-synched, some audibly, in a gentle fog of nostalgia.
The venue, the galleried showroom of the Alpha proved an effective performance venue. The neon sun blazed all afternoon and piano dealers Sherman Clay, who lent the Steinway for the occasion, were probably relieved that their piano did not have to risk the real elements.
Of course I missed the spectacle of Ken Hardin diving into the pond as a fundraising antic, but the music more than made up for that. Roll-on 2011, Jazz On or Off the Pond.
Charles Atthill lives in Alta Sierra. It was to have been a September Song, but Here's That Rainy Day, so Let's Call the Whole Thing Off. But surely They Can't Take That Away From Me? There'll be Blues in the Night and I'll Never Be the Same. But in the end, amid Autumn Leaves, Come Rain or Come Shine, I was In a Mellotone and S'Wonderful.
So Sunday was the first, and perhaps the last, Jazz Off the Pond, performed before a full house in the old Alpha Building in downtown Nevada City. “A high spot of my musical calendar,” said one fan.
The change of venue didn't affect the music, only the taste of the picnic. Everybody knows that food tastes better out-of-doors.
The trio of Ken Hardin, piano, Kit Bailey, percussion, and Mickey Bennett, bass, offered a comforting program mainly of jazz standards – how many ways can there be of playing “Sophisticated Lady”? Hardin showed an impressive range of influences, but especially relished David Benoit's rich and expressive “If I Could Reach Rainbows” and his own driving arrangement of Van Morrison's “Moondance.”
Though the trio does not play together regularly they are definitely attuned to each other, with Bennett's confident striding, when not brooding, bass and Bailey's restrained pulsing drumming.
They were joined for four numbers by infectious local singer Sarah Pressler, including a high energy “Cry Me a River” and a passionate “It Never Entered my Mind.” Special guest James May sang his own touching “Don't Let Go.” Standards have to start somewhere so why not here?
The warm-up act Then Again, the trio of Kathy Chastain, vocals, James May, guitar and vocals, Steve Nicholson, bass and vocals, showed off the popular local band, who focus on memorable and hummable classic rock mainly from the 60s and 70s.
The music was stylish, no guitars smashed, no pyrotechnics. The arrangements were instantly recognizable recreations of the originals. Many of the audience (much grey hair in evidence) lip-synched, some audibly, in a gentle fog of nostalgia.
The venue, the galleried showroom of the Alpha proved an effective performance venue. The neon sun blazed all afternoon and piano dealers Sherman Clay, who lent the Steinway for the occasion, were probably relieved that their piano did not have to risk the real elements.
Of course I missed the spectacle of Ken Hardin diving into the pond as a fundraising antic, but the music more than made up for that. Roll-on 2011, Jazz On or Off the Pond.
Charles Atthill lives in Alta Sierra. It was to have been a September Song, but Here's That Rainy Day, so Let's Call the Whole Thing Off. But surely They Can't Take That Away From Me? There'll be Blues in the Night and I'll Never Be the Same. But in the end, amid Autumn Leaves, Come Rain or Come Shine, I was In a Mellotone and S'Wonderful.
