Impressions

of original material. The band was cooking, and they finished in style with “Comin’ Home For Mardi Gras”, his nod to New Orleans. This was a very nice concert by an underrated trumpet player.

Then appeared living legend Bobby Lyle on piano, at age 75 still going strong, presenting material from his lengthy career. He mostly played the acoustic piano, being backed by band a, plus Carl joining in for a few songs. He was in fine playing mood and was visibly thrilled to play for us in this great setting. He did a few original songs from his smooth jazz catalog like “You And I”, “Exotic Love” and others, before doing a few covers, like Sade’s “The Sweetest Taboo” and the Carpenters “Superstar”, which was pure bliss with Bobby pulling all the stops on this track, one of the highlights. Because he felt like it, without rehearsal, he went into “Groovin’” with the band nicely going along, before he did the ultragrooving “Spankin” and his version of “Minute By Minute” complete with audience participation. He played just beautifully and