Hello all,
Last night I had the priviledge of seeing Karrin Allyson at the Dakota Bar & Grill in Minneapolis. Our seats were right at the stage, directly behing the piano, and only about 6 feet from where her microphone was. The way we were positioned, I could still see the entire band.
Needless to say, her performance was without flaw. Regardless of the material, whether it be Brazilian, French cabaret, Coltrane ballads, or her rendition of Joni Mitchell, she was right on vocally, covering these tunes in her own inimitable style, sometimes seductive, sometimes with extroverted exuberance. Her band was beyond compare. She has used the same people for years yet when you hear them play, it's as though all of their selections are new and fresh to them. The sound was incredible and being that close with such well mixed sound, you could hear all the subtle ticks and tinkles of precussion, and almost hear the pick hitting the strings on Danny Embrey's guitar. Bow Bowman's stand up bass work was out of this world. He is a joy to watch and to hear. This guy is from another world when he plays, appearing to not be amongst the living, just in a trance. Danny's guitar work was precise, clean, and so expressive. Todd Strait worked the drums with such finesse that under no circumstance could anyone call his precussion irritating or in your face - he was "just there", doing what good drummers do, being colorful without being obnoxious. This is the fourth time I have seen Karrin and will go again and again when she is in town. I highly recommend her to anyone who has an interest in jazz. Lastly, seeing this quality of live performance, I now have a gauge to work with in fine tuning my audio system which is Van Alstine seperates with his own Biro speakers.
Rick
