Jazz time

The Atlantic Jazz Festival is on this week in Halifax. I went to see Holly Cole sing Sunday night. Laila Biali was the opener. She played the piano with such ease; I don’t know how she does it. It was inspiring. Her singing is good too, but the piano play, awesome!

Then there was Holly Cole. What a voice! Man, can she sing! And perform. It was spectacular, watching her. The only thing I would have liked is if her choice of songs was a little more intense to go with her intense voice. The songs were just too easy for my taste. But when she sang The Tennessee Waltz the (older) woman in front of me was crying. Memories. Interestingly, the median age of the audience was definitely over fifty.

Aaron had given me a CD of Holly Cole’s for my birthday. I’ve been listening to it and without her strong stage presence, the songs themselves are softer. Her performance is fascinating, her voice one of the best.

Yesterday I hung out at the Main Tent, saw the very good Joe Murphy and the Water Street Blues Band perform. A day-care had brought a group of three year olds and they were dancing up by the stage and throwing themselves around. So free, so very cute and so sweet.