Mary and I had the opportunity to escape for a rare "date night" last night, and what a great night it was!
We started the evening with dinner at Cascata Ristorante, a fine Italian dining establishment in Edmond. The atmosphere was charming and it was a pleasure to be waited on by a very professional wait staff.
It all looked quite good so we decided to order two plates and share them. We ordered the following:
- SCHIACCIATA DI POLLO CON CREMOLADA DI LIMONE
marinated whole chicken with lemon zest, rosemary sauce, spinach and roasted potatoes
- IL FILETTO DI MANZO FATTO ALLA GRIGLIA CON BARBARESCO
grilled filet mignon served with Yukon potatoes and torta di cipolle in a bordelaise sauce
and for desert, TORTINO DI CIOCCOLATO
warm chocolate cake served with vanilla ice cream sauce . YUM!
After the scrumptious meal, we drove a short way to the University of Oklahoma Jazz Lab. The featured performer was Steve Tyrell, and I was glad I reserved tickets several months ago!
Steve Tyrell is a fifty-something crooner with a smooth voice with a gravel-like quality, similar to Louis Armstrong. And Tyrell is quite at home with the music of Armstrong. In fact, standards is what he is all about! He first came to national attention when he recorded "The Way You Look Tonight" for the Steve Martin comedy, Father of the Bride.
Since then, he has record four CDs, including a Christmas CD. Each one is packed with standards from an era gone by. Classics like Give Me the Simple Life, On the Sunny Side of the Street, I Can't Get Started With You and Don't Get Around Much Anymore. Great stuff by Armstrong, Bailey, Sinatra, Bennett and many others done in their swinging style. We have played his CDs to death and thoroughly enjoy them both for jammin' in the car and relaxing on the sofa.
The UCO Jazz Lab only holds approximately 200 people, so it was a very intimate setting. Tyrell came out with his six-piece band and burst into a swingin' version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The room was alive with a groovin' brass section, piano, bass and a tight drum sound. He eased into several songs from his older recordings, including That Old Feeling, What a Little Moonlight Can Do, and Way You Look Tonight, along with some from his latest CD, including Nevertheless (I'm In Love With You) and I've Got A Crush On You. Tyrell played about 80 minutes, stopping to intersperse some colorful and humorous anecdotes between songs.
One of the more interesting stories revolved around the various "greats" he has worked with during his life. His web site reveals photos of many of these greats such as Patti Austin, Quincy Jones, Joe Sample and his mentor, Burt Bacharach. However, we were thrilled to find that a great of the swing era was with us in the very room when Tyrell introduced the saxophone player, Plas Johnson. As it turned out, Johnson has been around long enough to have actually recorded and toured with Sinatra, Armstrong and Mancini. And to give us a sample of the work he had done, Plas eased into a classic he recorded with Henry Mancini several decades ago, The Theme from the Pink Panther. Wow! Here was the actual guy blowing the actual melody from a song that is ingrained deeply in the American collective experience. How cool is that?
Tyrell finished off the evening with an absolutely show-stopping version of Georgia on My Mind. It was a swingin' and romantic evening for the 200 or so who were able to get a seat to this event. Tyrell was extremely entertaining and seemed to be a nice guy who still can't believe he is doing what he loves and getting paid for it. He signed a CD for us and I managed to get a blurry picture with Plas Johnson.
After returning home, I checked his web site. I was saddened to see the news on the main page. Apparantly, he lost a loved one to cancer just a few weeks back. Sad news, indeed. You have my condolences, Steve. And yet, the show must go on.
Want to check out Steve Tyrell's music? I think you'll love it!
At the very least, pick up a copy of A New Standard, and if you ever get the chance to take in a show with your sweetie, I highly recommend it!
It's Del.icio.us!
Furl It!
November 23, 2003 10:24 PM
Joel --
This sounds like a very cool evening out, my wife & I want to go out with you guys on the next "date night." Of course, living an hour west of Toronto, Canada may pose a bit of a travelling problem but I made it from our laneway to my wife's cousin's laneway in Dallas,TX in 24 hrs. this summer. Of course that kind of driving negates any "Cracker Barrel" or "Waffle House" stops much to the disappointment of my wife & daughter! Thanks for the Steve Tyrell link, great stuff! Oh yeah, thanks also for the Relevant magazine site. With a "Strang" as the president I feel a Charisma magazine connection, progeny perhaps?
January 2, 2005 02:44 PM
i really want to see the live .. i love ur music .. but in vain i cant see it or be on tour becoz im very far away ( i live in syria ) but im very glad to hear somthings like that ....thank u very much ..