What a fun way to celebrate Mothers Day! Funny man and great musician, Jeff Elliott, was at his best to help us all mark the holiday with some very cool jazz. It was the brainstorm of Jazz Society President, Peter Clark who has had a long association with Jeff and put together a CD of the many songs he has written and recorded with Jeff. Stellar musicians, guitarists Chris Judge and Maitland Ward, drummer Kevin Winard, bassist Brendan Statom, and Lito Hernandez on alto and tenor sax were on hand to accompany Peter on piano and Jeff with his trumpet and flugelhorn.
The day definitely belonged to Jeff, but the house band put together some really nice tunes opening with a swinging Lover Come Back to Me followed by the Latin flavored Vince Guaraldi standard, Cast Your Fate to the Wind. Then it was “Jeff Time” and with the tune Tangerine, it was plain to see what an extraordinary player he really is. Jeff doubled on the piano and rolled out a mean F Blues and managed to play his horn at the same time! On another blues, he belted out I’m Built for Comfort, Not for Speed. He’s kind of a one man band! Lito Hernandez was featured on a lovely Stella by Starlight and was backed up by the terrific house band. It was a fun afternoon and a great tribute to two extremely gifted musicians, Jeff and Peter. Again, we are to fortunate to have such amazing talent on our door step!