Bloggin' at the Woodside

Lori, Marlis, Glenn (not pictured) and I met at Fitzgerald's, our favorite nightclub about 1/2 mile from our house, for an evening of big band jazz with the Brienn Perry Orchestra. He's a Chicago-native singer/trombonist who's now based in Kansas City, and he was back for this big to-do with a 17-piece band (5 saxes, 4 bones, 4 trumpets, guitar, bass, drums and piano) plus his new fiancé Precious Taylor, a talented (if a bit overwrought) singer in her own right.

We had dinner in the club--pulled-pork sandwices and collards for Lori and me--and had a very nice early Sunday evening of about 3 hours of music.

For those of you who have not visited recently, Fitzgerald's hosts a big jazz band almost every Sunday evening from 6:00-9:30. All the Chicago big bands play there, they're all good, and there are about 10 to a dozen of them. If you're interested in seeing a show like this, plan to stay over a Sunday when you come.

And then now and then we get a treat like Perry come in from elsewhere. His band, though, was Chicago musicians, five of whom had played with Count Basie in the later years of his career.

Here are a couple of pix and some video clips.