Where Winterfest Winds Up!

Live at the Indigo is the place to be on Saturday nights during Winterfest. Bistro72 will be transformed into a jazz lounge by the sounds of The Steve Watson Trio and unpredictable cameo appearances from jazz legends who are performing at the Winterfest concerts during the day. Beginning at 7pm guests will relax to The Art of Solo Piano and by 8pm will be ready to heat up with the Winterfest Jazz Jam.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Were You at Opening Night?


  What a gift it is to have the incredibly talented drummer James Benard and the "one and only" Bill Smith on piano for this season of the Long Island Winterfest Jazz Jam at the Hotel Indigo East! Our first night was packed and cookin', as we got off to week one, featuring Bill at the Kawai Baby Grand in a beautiful set of The Art of Solo Piano. For those of you that are not aware, Frank & Camille's Pianos is raffling off this fine instrument on the last day of the festival. Tickets are $20, and proceeds will be donated to the East End Arts Council.

  We opened with a version of "Sandu," followed by a series of 'songs of love' in honor of Valentine's Day. Ending the set with "Cherokee" at a respectably bright tempo, it was clear that this trio is really going to be heating up over the coming weeks. Our second set opened with a smooth version of "All Blues," then we opened up the session.

  Vocalists Darlene Fulda and Joy Mega warmed the mood with "The Nearness of You" and "Fever," respectively, followed by a highly entertaining impromptu set with composer and multi-instrumentalist David Amram!

  David, armed with French Horn, Djembe and Penny Whistle, called Ellington's "Take the A-Train" to start us off, then went into a freestyle rhyme on the blues and a rather hilarious mash up of "Arkansas Traveler," "I Got Rhythm," and his own made up lyrics to a spontaneous "Riverhead Song."

  Our audience was great, Tom and Jamison were tending a terrific bar, and Melissa (as well as all of the table servers) presented excellent fare from the appetizing menu at Bistro 72.

  Other than that...

  We're getting ready for this Saturday with Jane Hastay at the Solo Piano set, followed by none other than the fabulous bassist Bakithi Kumalo (of Paul Simon 'Graceland' fame) sitting in with us at some point in the evening. Count on another surprise or two as well!

  Reservations are highly recommended.

  Give a shout if you were there! Or let us know when you're planning to drop in. Love to hear from you.

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