Last night I was so happy to see my favorite vocalist (and old friend of our Fred Simon) Kurt Elling and group perform here at the Jazz Bakery. The legendary Bob Sheppard (of recent Joni and Steely Dan fame) sat in on sax. It was a stunning concert and I don't think I've ever seen an audience quite so rapt and somewhat swooning throughout. Elling began with a tribute to the passing of George Harrison singing "Goodbye Clifford Brown." He went on to sing a number of knock over gorgeous love songs from his latest album "Flirting with Twilight" (on which Sheppard and Peter Erskine appear). He also did an extended, amazing vocalese to some John Coltrane music. There always seems to be a few legendary cats coming to see him here. I saw two gentlemen hugging and exclaiming how they'd played Monterey together 15 years ago and learned that one of them was Billy Childs. Elling has been touring all over and will be at the Jazz Alley in Seattle 12/6 - 12/9, then going on to Paris, Chicago, Australia, Vancouver and more through May. I can't rave about him enough - he is truly rare and I highly recommend hearing him.
On another note - it must be the season for the celebs to be out and about in L.A. Yesterday I saw June Haver in West Hollywood, Frankie Avalon in Beverly Hills, and then the topper late last night at the Bel Air Hotel bar of a table of Sean Penn, Robin Wright, David Spade and another cute actor I couldn't identify (we were outside having smokes at one point and Spade later said "good night" to me ;-) - and at the other end of the room, Loni Anderson and a few friends. No Joni, although this afternoon in Venice I saw an EXACT clone of Joni (right down to the hat and jewelry) as she may appear in another 10 years! Kakki
