Sunday, March 27, 2005

Jazz bar

I had dinner with a friend Thursday night. After dinner, he said he needed to practice singing in a jazz bar. The jazz bar is very close to my company. I pass by the place almost everyday, but have never noticed there is a jazz bar inside. I have been to several jazz bars before, such as the one in Westing Hotel, Shanghai, also "The View" on top of Marriot hotel in San Francisco. Those are very nice Jazz Bars with great band and singers. But I have never been to one who allows people to practice. I was very curious to see what it is like, so I went along.

When we got in, there were already about 10 people inside, some came to sing, some came to play instruments. Mark is the lead and actually the only official player of the band. He's been playing there for 22 years, a very good musician. He can play all the instruments there, piano, drum, saxophone ..., he also is a very good singer. He smokes a lot, I was very surprised that he still has such a good voice, very magnetic. People there know each other quite well, I think most of them have retired, so they spent a lot of nights there practicing and enjoying themselves. I felt like an intruder when I first got in there. But people are very nice to me, they look like a big family. There was this old lady named Dorothy, she just finished her singing class. She went up to sing on the stage. Even though she cannot make some high notes, she was really concentrated and enjoyed herself. Her eyes were closed, and her body was moving with the tune. There were also some fabulous singers, especially the African American guy, he has this amazing voice, very broad. I would think he is a real star if I hear his voice on the radio. Mark is very funny. He kept saying jokes when he was playing the piano, making the whole night some sort of comedy show. Just to see all the people there so happy doing what they like makes me feel very happy too. I really enjoyed it!

Cocktail and Snowman