Some of My Best Friends are the Blues

Doug took me to a place called Finale Friday night. We saw jazz singer Karyn Allyson. Doug knows I'm not a big fan of jazz (I don't care for the randomness when they get carried away, and I'm a lyrics junky anyway), but he figured a vocalist would be a pretty safe choice. He was right: she was fantastic! Amazing how much musical talent has come from the midwest. Karrin is from Kansas City, and went to school at University of Nebraska. Her voice is simply amazing.

Her drummer was also from KC: he was fun to watch: one of the things I do appreciate about jazz musicians is how much they pay attention to the other musicians they share the stage with. Unlike rock, where everyone seems to be vying for the spotlight, jazz musicians seem to exemplify everything we learned -- or were supposed to learn -- in kindergarten: listen politely to others, wait your turn, don't be a show-off... I'm terrible with names and will have to ask Doug if he remembers, because they were all really good.

The bassist looked about as serious as can be, but of course he was great. I think he's another Kansas City guy. The pianist -- wow! He was a local guy from St. Louis. The man sitting next to us said he's an instructor (or maybe department head, the brandy made it hard to concentrate) at one of the schools, and his wife sings as well as he plays the piano.

If you live under a rock like me, and haven't heard of Karrin, check out some of here music at her Website. Her new disc won't be out till February or March, but I'm looking forward to it... she'll be covering tunes from the likes of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Cat Stevens. My favorite of the show was her cover of the late Shirley Horn's "Some of My Best Friends are the Blues," but I haven't been able to find a sample of her singing that one online.

Perhaps the best part of all this: Finale is about a 5-minute drive from our house, parking is close and free, the venue is small with table seating, waitresses will serve you food and/or drinks throughout, and the tickets were $20. Contrast that with the last concert we saw at the Nokia theater in Grand Prairie... 30-minute drive to nowhere, $15 to park even though the parking lot is only for that venue and there's nothing else around for miles (what a rip-off), if you want any refreshements you have to wait till intermission and get them yourself, and tickets were about 3 times more expensive.