Birdland

I just love serendipity. Last night I went to Birdland, the famous jazz club. Monday night is Jim Caruso’s Cast Party. It had been recommended to me by several people as a great open mic attended by a big audience and, often, celebrities and Broadway performers. I took a seat at the bar and the fellow next to me said hello. I learned that he, Roger Patterson, was from San Francisco and he always came to Birdland when in NY on business. He asked if I was going to perform and I said yes, a blues tune. He said “wow, I have a blues band!" They play in the wine country around SF and are called Chord on Blue (get it? get it?). Turned out he plays harmonica, so I asked him to perform with me. It took some urging — he had never performed there or anywhere in New York, even though he visits every time he is in town, but he went back to his hotel room to get a harmonica in the right key. I signed us up on the performance list and while waiting I learned he is married, has two grown sons and several grandchildren. He learned about my family. He bought a CD from me without hearing me first, which shows an awful lot of trust! Anyway, the performers were mostly incredible. Performances ranged from show tunes to pop and jazz, with some original compositions thrown in. Backup band was incredibly good. It took awhile before Caruso called us up. There were many fantastic regulars and we were, after all, a completely unknown quantity. Tommy Tune was in the house and the place was packed with people. When he got to us, around midnight, (hey, that’s a song title!), he did a little interview and I shared that Roger and I had just met and thrown together this act just for the show. So, I sang Built for Comfort and Roger did some fills and took a couple of solos; we got the house rocking and the audience participating and the band was having a ball. It was great fun and seemed very well received. After I sat down, the bartender told me the sound guy said “Go Bucks", so he and I did a silent O.H.I.O. across the room — him in the sound booth and me at the bar. The best part of the whole evening was how thrilled Roger was. For him this was, in his words, the event of a lifetime. After listening to a few more fantastic performers, Roger took off to go to Don’t Tell Mama (he is quite the party animal) to hear some more performers, but I headed home. Maybe he and I will perform again in San Francisco with his band some day. George and I can take a vacation and visit wine country! Here’s the link to Roger’s band: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Chord-On-Blue/528745370509824 Check it out!