Diff'rent night, same Healing: August 14th

Ahhh...life is always good on Monday nights when Santa Fe is onstage. Jerry had to go to the bench again, Dave Richardson was unavailable. No problem whatsoever. Just call Bill Zappia -- Music Director for Sheena Easton, and an arranger of considerable note -- to come in and read the book, no rehearsal necessary. Email Bill here.

Above: Jamie Hosmer is hot, 'eh, ladies? Cat can flat-ass sing! Below, Phil and Rob throw down.

Below: Roch and Pepe. Man! It's all so fine! The crowd was again howling at the excellence and energy. And Rochon yet again blew us away with one of his impossible bass rides during "We Are Nothing."

Below: The always delightful Santa Fe regular Mickey J was seriously diggin' it.

Below: Ran into Enrique last night. Haven't seen him in a long time. Dude is one fine, tasty guitarist and composer (and also formerly of Santa Fe). He's just finished a stint with the "Buck Wild" show at the Sahara. I first met Enrique when he was appearing at the Sunday jazz brunch at Gordon Biersch. Great to see you, bro'. UPDATE: Enrique sent me an mp3 of one of his self-produced tunes, "Cool Chile" (click the title). Very nice, indeed.

ROBERT CONTI UPDATE:

Guitarist par excellance Robert Conti had his people send me a comp copy of his new CD "To the Brink." I got it last night when I got home from the day gig, and put it on immediately. Thank you, Sir! I honestly don't think the phrase "Musical Genius" is an overstatement. Robert has chops inside of chops inside of chops, sorta like those ivory tusk ball carvings you see over in Chinatown in San Francisco. Bird (the late Charlie Parker) is reported to have once observed "first you learn your instrument, then you learn the music, then you forget all that shit and just play." Very few of us ever get anywhere close to such a level -- being able to play whatever comes to you, absent any apparent physical limitations. Robert is definitely there. I try to imagine Robert throwing down with Ronnie Foster. The room would probably explode. (Y'know, I'd put up money to make that happen, LOL!)

See my August 7th Steven Lee Group blog update for more about Robert (including a video clip). Scroll down. The "4's" video thing with Rocco Barbato will blow you away.

Note on the "To The Brink" CD: One take in studio, the entire thing. Robert's philosophy is that, if you gotta do re-takes, punch-ins and/or overdubs, it's not jazz. The studio session should be no different than a live gig. One take. Step up and show what you got (they sure did on this one).

ANOTHER UPDATE:

Spoke briefly with Tommy Alvarado last night. A Tuesday night jazz gig at The Artisan is in the works (beginning on the 22nd, I believe, hate that I'll be in Florida). Tommy, the fabulous Joel Richman on drums, our Fearless Leader Jerry Lopez on guitar, and a couple other A-List cats (I'll get the names, shoulda wrote it all down last night, too much going on at the time). Will no doubt be awesome. If you've not yet heard Tommy Alvarado play saxes and sing, you don't know what you're missing. Cat is an Eminence. Get your bootie down to The Artisan next Tuesday (and Thursdays and Saturdays for Ronnie's performances).