Jazz, Blues, & Swing in the Pacific Northwest

After more than a month away, starring as The Crickets in the Fifth Avenue’s stage production of The Buddy Holly Story, Matt Weiner and Mike Daugherty will make their triumphant return to the stage of the New Orleans Creole Restaurant, Tuesday, March 6th. It’ll be nice to see them back again.

I attended the play last Thursday. I’ll admit that at least a part of my original interest in seeing the production was the “cool factor” of having friends in the cast.

Despite the cultural short-comings of my somewhat shaky original motivation, I found the show fun, entertaining, and well staged. I had a good time. The music was marvelous. The sound and acoustics in the Fifth Ave are teriffic, and I had a really good seat. The production details were impressive. I’d had a couple of conversations with Matt and Mike which probably gave me a better basis from which to appreciate the level of preparation and organization that goes into a production like this. Frankly … it was damn impressive. Nice job, Matt and Mike. Someday I’ll be saying “I knew them when …”

So, while Matt and Mike were absent, I got to work with a couple of musicians whom I’d like to thank.

Jamel Nance, originally from Louisiana, lived in Seattle in the 80’s and early 90’s. He’s been away for some time but is now back in Seattle. When I spoke with him prior to the first time he played with us, he modestly said “I don’t get much chance to play this kind of music, but I listen to it some.” Well, folks, the man’s a really nice drummer, and way too modest! What a nice turn of events that he was able to help us out for a few weeks. Very nice, very hot, very tasteful drummer, and a very easy guy to work with. Fun!

Lou Ledbetter played five consecutive Tuesdays with us on string bass. Lou, who’d previously worked with Alex, was a very nice find for Holotradband. It’s nice to have musicians who can just step in and do the job with such a high-level of musicianship and professionalism. A guy once told me “A band is only as good as the guys you can call to fill-in.” That, folks, is definitely a true story.

Anyway … Thanks again, Jamel and Lou. You guys were both right on top of it, made the rhythm section work, and the whole thing was not only fun, but very, very musical. Kudos to you both. I certainly hope you’ll both take my calls in the future, because I’ll definitely be calling.

That said, welcome back Matt and Mike!