on sunset blvd…the dresden
Saturday night, Tim hipped me to this lounge/ resturaunt called the Dresden. Some of you might know about this place.
The only way to beleive what goes on here is to experience it.
The act is a drummer named Marty and his wife Elayne.
Their forte is American Songbook -Cole Porter and Gershwin type stuff- Jazz, Bossa Nova, and a show stopping rendition of Staying Alive.
I loved this throwback lounge to the 60’s and 70’s. You guys remember the really funky dim lighting at Creshales in Clinton? With the half circle vinyl booths? It was like that.
Tim and I order a couple of libations and waited to find a seat. We saw a little sign at our table that had been altered to read, “210 drink minimum.”
All of a sudden I hear this keyboard solo with a female voice scatting. It was great. Great in the sense of it being played with such honest intention. The solo itself came across like the organ solo in “do it again” by steely dan; A little melody, a little dissonance, a little pounding the keyboard with the palm of the hand.
She was playing a really old “soft brass” sound that I couldn’t immediately place but heard MANY times before. Later I found it was a 22 year old DX-7 still in use. The Toyota Corona of synthesizers.
She was so happy playing. I just had this big stupid grin on my face experiencing this whole thing. The music, the decor, the flat tonic.
Typically, Tim says, its just the 2 of them playing but this was special because they had a stand up bass player with them.
He added a lot. He earned his pay keeping up with elayne and filling the gaps when she played Keyboard with one hand and Jazz Flute with the other.
Marty the drummer was quite good. Especially to play softly and sing at the same time.
The time was loose but they all ended every song together perfectly.
They asked for requests and I wrote “disafinado” on a napkin and handed it to Elayne. They delivered a magnificent rendition and turned it into a bossa medley.
This caught the attention of two women sitting behind us. So Tim initiated a conversation. They were hospice nurses and could’ve been friends of our parents, but super nice and impressed we even knew what bossa nova was. We talked about 25 minutes or so.
One of the nurses eventually asked me, “Why does everyone clap so hard for this. Don’t you think it’s awful?”
We didn’t get their numbers.
The crown jewel of the set was an indecipherble-’Mr spock’- like delivery of “staying alive.”
Somehow they managed to xtract every syncopated rhythm out of the song. They also moved the bass line over a beat or two so that it sounded like it was in the middle of the phrase.
It took me 16 bars to find beat one of the phrase and even longer to understand what song they were playing.
They played their version very well, as if they only had the key and some lyrics and had never heard the original.
I looked at the bass player and he was looking at the floor trying to stay out of the way.
It was the end of the set so Elayne took extended solos on her DX-7
and vintage Arp pro-soloist. Some scatting at first, a little pitch bend and vibrato, and then she unleashed. Pounding the mess out these instruments until there was a standing ovation. Well, from the standing room only crowd that is.
Later she told me she bought the Arp from a defunct game show in 1981.
Talk about shock and awe.
Thanks for checking in,
Stephen A. Thomas
July 5th, 2006 at 11:50 am
Everything I know about music I learned watching American Idol, so I have no idea what you are talking about. It sounds like a good time and they may be good musicians, but no one plays the jazz flute like Ron Burgundy.
Larry
July 15th, 2006 at 3:01 pm
I’ll echo the Ron Burgundy comment…but this is why, my friend, you are a better man than me. I would have gotten the nurses’ phone numbers.
Then again, I have a weird nurse thing. Too much porn. I”m just waiting to hear what happens when you get into your first L.A. pawnshop. I remember how I freaked out in Nashville…and you, too, if I’m not making that up.