Thank you, Dan Reina, for hot licks and cool jazz last Saturday!

Dan ReinaWe had a wonderful night last Saturday at The Suite Bistro featuring Dan Reina on acoustic guitar.

Dan is originally from Los Angeles and has played professionally all of his life.  He has worked with such well-known artists as The Fifth Dimension, Fabian, Johnny Mathis and Barry Manilow.  Dan moved to Colorado in 1994 and lives in the Boulder area.

It is wonderful playing with Dan.  His playing is smooth with a real jazz feel.  He shines on our Latin tunes with a natural sense of where to go with these songs.  What a marvelous musician!  Thank you for joining us!

Pete’s Broken Foot

10454905_1476768255942783_9035722397792419966_oIt is hard to play drums well and even harder if your foot is broken.  Since Pete is “left footed” he uses this appendage, when it is in working order,  for his base drum.   We’ve been working on “Take Five” which has a fairly complicated drum line.  However, he’s noticed that it’s really difficult to get the rhythm right when his foot doesn’t work.  It’s as if the other three limbs are out of balance without their missing fourth partner.   Strange

This has put a hole in our summer.  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that those screws hold.

Jane

July 12: a great night at the Suite Bistro featuring Paul Gomez on guitar

JRQ--0539-webWe had a terrific time playing at the Suite Bistro with our special guest, Paul Gomez, on guitar and our newest band member, Eli Johnson, on guitar and trombone.

Paul and Pete have played together since they were 14 years-old, growing up in Greeley.  Their first real “gig” was playing a homecoming dance in Grover, Colorado when they were barely old-enough to drive there.  Paul and Pete toured together with Blues Legend, Little Milton, traveling across the US and to the Bellinzona Blues Festival in Italy in 2005.   Paul is a world-class musician in the style of Wes Montgomery.  He moves seamlessly between jazz to rock to blues.  He lives in southern California with his wife, Karen.  We appreciate both of them so much.

Eli Johnson is the newest member of our group.  He is a master on jazz guitar and trombone.  Eli is majoring in music performance at CSU in Fort Collins.  He loves jazz and also composes his own original jazz tunes.

Pete loves a challenge and the band delivered.  The guys were brilliant on “Solar,” a technically challenging Miles Davis tune, and on “Four on Six” by Wes Montgomery.