SUNDAY NIGHTS AT 326 SPRING STREET (Part Thirty-Seven) — WE NEED SOMETHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO: SESSIONS AT THE EAR INN, featuring THE EarRegulars (2007 – the Future)

In my little computer-centered burrow, I am snickering at myself.  Pandemic-brain, interrupted sleep, failed multi-tasking?  You name it, but I realized that I, who prize accuracy, already published “Part Thirty-Eight” here a week ago — skipping forward to January 16, 2011.  I’m sorry if it caused anyone a psychic lurch, or if the room suddenly darkened and objects fell in the kitchen.  The good news is that none of the severe Corrections Officials wrote in to rebuke me.

And I hope that this error will become as valuable as the “inverted Jenny” postage stamp . . . will the out-of-sequence blogpost be worth 1.5 million someday?  A nice thought.  But back to music that’s priceless, performed and recorded at The Ear Inn, a shrine that sells beer and chili.

The music from December 12, 2010, created by Jon-Erik Kellso, trumpet; Randy Reinhart, cornet; Matt Munisteri, guitar; Joel Forbes, string bass, is more than remarkable — even though that praise could be said of every Sunday night at the Ear Inn with the EarRegulars.

Starting from the back, the rhythm-and-solo team of Matt and Joel is truly beyond compare, no offense meant to other string players who have visited 326 Spring Street.

The front line — brass ecstasy — is unusual and unusually beautiful.  You’ll notice it has none of the reek of Hollywood fakery, where the two trumpeters wage testosterone-war on one another, pointing their phalli upward until the one who can go higher [“He got up to P!” to quote Louis] wins and the loser slinks off, disgraced, to the bar.  No, this is friendly brotherly conversation — rare and uplifting, a good model of community even for those who can’t yet push the first valve down.

ROYAL GARDEN BLUES:

JAZZ ME BLUES:

YOU CAN DEPEND ON ME:

DALLAS BLUES:

Beautiful.  Meet me next week (hold on to your chair arms) for Part Thirty-Nine.  We can do it.

May your happiness increase!

THEY’RE SWELL, or ROCKING THE ROCKIES (CARL SONNY LEYLAND, MARTY EGGERS, JEFF HAMILTON: Evergreen Jazz Festival, July 26, 2019)

This post doesn’t celebrate an occasion, a birthday, an anniversary, nor does it mourn a death.  It’s here so that you, too, can have five minutes of life-affirming joyous sounds . . . and that’s enough or should be.

My meteorological souvenir from the 2014 Evergreen Jazz Festival.

Here are Carl Sonny Leyland, piano; Marty Eggers, string bass; Jeff Hamilton, drums, frolicking through the Rodgers and Hart THOU SWELL.  They swing from the first note, and my favorite extra pleasure of this is watching Sonny stand up to see just what sonic alchemies Jeff is creating over at the other side of the stage.

As the title says, this was performed at the Evergreen Jazz Festival on July 26, 2o19.  I wish I were booked to be there again: I can close my eyes and remember the narrow flight of stairs — blessedly, with a sturdy handrail — that led down from the building to this outdoor stage.

But the music!  The propulsion!  The panoply of sounds.  How very SWELL:

May your happiness increase!