Concert Review: Jazz In July – Wine Cellar July 2, 2020

Jazz…at The Wine Cellar…on a Thursday night? Yes, and as a matter of fact, the show was sold out!

Who would have thunk it? Certainly not me. But sure enough, Ye olde Wine Cellar was indeed full of jazz lovers. And get this…most of the audience was relatively young…30s and 40s…and extremely attentive with nary a cellphone in sight during either of the two sets performed by saxophonist Jeff Henderson and his band.

The band consisted of drummer Chris O’Connor, Eamon Edmundson-Wells on stand-up bass and Ro Rushton-Green on violin and sax.  Those non-jazzers among us know Chris from his work with Phoenix Foundation and a host of other locals. We recently saw Ro Rushton-Green at Audio Foundation as part of A Dog With No Hat.

As good as the band was, the real focus was on sax man Jeff Henderson and he came out blowing like a locomotive.

The evening was advertised as “Jazz Standards Performed By” and perhaps they were, but when Henderson spoke to the crowd in between sets he asked if anyone could name the standards played. When it became apparent that no one had recognized any of them, Jeff filled us in. To be honest, selections such as Monk’s Friday The 13^th or The Night Has 1000 Eyes must have been brief jumping off points for what was an exhilarating performance by Henderson and his band.

One could see and hear the communication that went on between band members as Jeff and Ro  went face to face with competing saxes and then the versatile Ro took out her violin to duet with bassist Eamon…making both instruments sound as you’ve never heard them.

The first set lasted well over an hour and I thought, well, that’s an early night as there’s no way they could follow that.

But, just after 10pm, sure enough all four were back on stage playing more standards. And to be fair, those standards were a bit more recognizable and a bit more melodic than the wild, atonal ride we took during the first set.

We got another hour of totally thrilling music and again, the crowd was attentive and in tune with what was happening on stage.

Who would have guessed that the Wine Cellar was a hotbed for jazz? Apparently this will take place during the first Thursday of every month so if you’re feeling adventurous, come on down.

Marty Duda