Just beautiful. Leon, cornet; Craig, guitar; guest star Meredith, vocals — at Cafe Divine (a fine restaurant at 1600 Stockton Street in San Francisco). Leon Oakley and Craig Ventresco play there on the third Sunday of every month, and this session — in two parts — took place on May 18, 2014.
A caveat to start. Leon and Craig play without amplification, and Cafe Divine is a restaurant, not a concert hall, so you will hear the conversation of the diners. I don’t think that the Savoy Ballroom was reverently still, or the dinners at which Bach and Mozart swung out with their latest compositions.
Their intoxicating music soars. I told Craig after the first set that he and Leon had performed time-and-space-warping magic: they had made 2014 North Beach into 1928 Chicago, and he agreed: that was their intention!
Here is the second of two tasting menus offered for your delectation. (And here is the first, in case it passed you by.)
SEE SEE RIDER:
TOO BUSY (with Meredith evoking Lillie Delk Christian):
A sweet KEEPIN’ OUT OF MISCHIEF NOW at the most sweetly romantic tempo imaginable:
The rarely played CHERRY:
JAZZ LIVES 
A second helping-excellent!
Hi Michael– Nice meeting you. Always good sounds with Leon. Luigi
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Craig’s solid guitar, Leon’s talent on the muted horn, and Miss Axelrod’s rich vocals, made this so enjoyable for me….I loved the entire post. Thank you so much, NM
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