Stanford Jazz Workshop presents Ruth Davies' Blues Night featuring Joe Louis Walker
2014-07-23
Dinkelspiel Auditorium
Stanford University, 471 Lagunita Drive, Stanford, CA
7:30 PM, Wednesday, July 23, 2014

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[7:37 PM lights down, announcements from Jim Nadel]

1. [7:41 PM] ? (instrumental)
2. [7:47 PM; +KC] ? (instrumental)
3. [7:57 PM; -KC, +LW] Baby, Let's Have a Natural Ball
4. [8:04 PM] Rebecca, Rebecca (Get Your Big Legs Off of Me)
5. [8:11 PM] Sugar Mama # (aud walkabout)
   [set ends 8:29 PM]

[8:46 PM, musicians back out for round two]

1. [8:47 PM] Eyesight to the Blind
2. [8:55 PM] Little Village #
3. [9:07 PM] Every Night and Every Day
4. [9:17 PM] Where Jesus Leads Me
5. [9:23 PM] Rocket 88
   [set ends 9:31 PM]
    
   Encore
6. [9:32 PM] 747
   [show ends 9:41 PM]

• John R. Burr: piano, Hammond B-3 organ;
• Danny Caron: guitar;
• Ndugu Chancler: drums;
• Ruth Davies: contrabass;
• Charles McNeal: alto saxophone;
• Joe Louis Walker: guitar, # harmonica, vox;
• with special guest -
• ?Kevin Cowla: Hammond B-3 organ (s1t02 only).

Had a nice dinner with Monk at Mike's Cafe in midtown Palo Alto. A nice evening for dinner al fresco, but not necessarily a place to put high on my list of places to revisit – nothing wrong, just nothing special.

Hustled across town to Stanford for the show and sneaked into a parking place behind Braun Center. Perfect! And then an easy walk around the front to get to Dinkelspiel. The production seemed to be running slightly behind schedule tonight, but that wasn't a problem, just gave us a few minutes to chill before the action. Jim Nadel gave us the usual intro talk, and then it was showtime!

The core band started with an unidentified blues tune, followed by a second tune featuring ?Kevin Cora? on Hammond B-3 organ. Good stuff! And then it was star time, with JLW strolling onstage as KC took his bows. Throughout the next hour, JLW took the chance between tunes to talk about this, that and the other thing. Mini-lectures, really. Must have been feeling professorial about having the mic in a lecture hall. Some of his comments were interesting, but on the whole, I Prefered to hear him play instead.

Since Jim had mentioned that tonight's show would be one set, I was caught by surprise when JLW announced that the band was going to take a break after an hour, but honestly, it was nice to get a chance to stretch my legs a little. Folding up into those deep bucket seats at Dink isn't quite the optimal listening position!

Second set seemed to be kinda short. Maybe the band was only contracted to play 90 minutes? I dunno; it was good, and close to an hour total time, but I felt like I was a little short-changed. Makes me less likely to sign on for the 14th annual, next year, though I'm sure a little star-power will alter that choice right quick.

Back to the previous event ☸ Back to the 2014 yearbox ☸ Back to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event!