stacey ewing

Tim and I went to the FOJ concert last night. Gary Smulyan (from NY) was featured on Barry Sax, Per Danielsson on piano, Mark Neuenschwander on bass and Steve Davis on Drums. The rhythm section was comprised of faculty members from Univ. South Florida who drove up to accompany Smulyan.

Overall, the concert was pretty good. It took awhile for them to warm up and suss each other out, but after that there were some very beautiful moments when things seemed to really gel. From the back of the room, the sound was a little off tho- piano was def. too soft and bass a little muddy. The drums sounded fantastic (I don’t think they were mic’d either) and those cymbals were to die for! I’m no drummer but even I noticed how good those sounded. mmmmm- like buttah… ;)

I’d also never seen Steve Davis play before and I gotta say, he was the core of the group that night- the other three musicians seemed kinda tired and not really into being there. He seemed to be trying to push them a little, maybe wake ‘em up a bit but they never did really rise to the challenge and meet his level of energy which was too bad. I guess I can’t blame them too much tho- driving up from Tampa is kind of a drag and Smulyan had just flown in from NY, not to mention the fact that many of the Friends of Jazz members are older retirees- so after the break, over half the room evaporated- that can’t help things either.

I find it a little alot embarrassing because those same folks get there SO damn early and take all the good seats and then when they leave there’s a gianormous hole in the front-center of the room. Unfortunately, there’s some kind of weird, unspoken rule that the people still there can’t move up and into those seats. I think next time, we should just trash this social more and go sit at the very front table! :P Too bad the concerts don’t start at 7:30, maybe that would help that problem a little.

Anyway, it was a good night and a pleasant end to a very long day! We’re very lucky to have such a great org like the FOJ that brings good jazz to Gainesville each month- it is SO nice.