From one of the city’s ex-burbs they had traveled specifically to the jazz club… a couple celebrating the husband’s 49th birthday. When I learned of the special day, I discreetly passed back his cover charge and wished him many more. A small token that will reverberate beyond this couple and their special night. There was only one other give-back this night. A man entered, reluctantly paid the cover, stood and watched the band play a couple of numbers, and then headed to the door. I caught him before he exited and gave him his five bucks, while saying… “It’s only fair… hope you’ll give us another try some other time.” Meanwhile the band was cooking on their version of Eddie Harris’ “Cold Duck Time,” which was the flip side of the 1969 45 rpm single, “Compared to What” that was recorded with Les McCann. It sounded great. The club was full and the crowd was younger, making the almost half-century birthday boy an elder statesman. The band’s second set kept everyone Krazy-Glued to their seats. They did an electrifying version of Freddie Hubbard’s “Super Blue,” followed by a bass driven version of Miles Davis’ “All Blues,” in which the bass player growled and scatted through his solo. The crowd kept coming, with a full 15 others filtering in during the quartet’s final half-hour of play while I was off the clock and seated comfortably at the bar with a glass of Cabernet. Clearly, we could have remained in the Second Set Bubble for easily another hour with no complaints from the jazz-lovers filling every seat in the club.
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