Vino Bella Performance: The Magic Was in The Air…

Troy and I (Mark) are very fortunate entertainers. We get to sing in front of the very best working musicians in the Northwest every time we take the stage and I have to tell you, that is a gigantic privilege. When you play with cats this good you have freedom to take chances, freedom to relax into what we’re doing and when you have that you can rise to another level. Play above your game and last night that element was infectious onstage. Steve “Long Grain” Rice, Chris Clark, Garey Williams and Travis Ranney laid down some absolutely amazing stuff and the audience was at full pitch.

Our regular drummer, Devan Stovall, came down with the flu and he called me at about 3:30 to let me know he was really sick and didn’t think he should play. He felt terrible about not only having to “call in sick” literally hours before a gig, but also because he really wanted to be on with us. Vino is always our most electric gig. If you want to see the Pack at our best, this is where to see us. On Wednesday afternoon I got a call from a guy named Garey Williams out of the blue. He’s a drummer looking for gigs and was referred to us by Osama Afifi, a world-class bass player that we’ve worked with in the past. Osama toured with Yanni for 5 years and regardless of what you think about that music, you gotta have some serious chops to win that selection process and be on that kind of gig. This guy sold out stadiums all over the planet for a living…

So anyway, I figured if Osama felt that this cat would be a good fit for the band, then this cat would probably be a good fit. “Packish” is what we look for in our players. So when Devan went down, I called Garey and asked if he could make it for an 8:00 downbeat. There ya go. Packish he is indeed. Really great chops and seriously, for a guy who just walks right into a propeller of Pack, he was brilliant. We had a lot of great compliments about him.

Bassist Chris Clark, who used to tour with Bob Hope doing his big shows back in the 60’s and played in the band that you saw in the original “Nutty Professor” movie with Jerry Lewis, also played with Count Basie and other legendary band leaders, absolutely tore that dog to shreds. Amazing solos, incredible melodic lines, solid, solid chops. But that’s what happens when you’re that flippin good, you deliver with awe-inspiring aplomb. There’s a big difference between a good bassist and a GREAT bassist.

Stevie, “Long Grain” was playing with a sort of “out-of-body” elevation and frankly, was the glue and magnet that kept the Pack galaxy from spiraling wild into the universe. It’s such a treat to have him on our stage. I can’t really use words to describe his play, so I’ll give you a digital impression: 110100001010111010111000101011001011… That’s all I can say, and that’s a lot! The Grain is a blend of controlled recklessness and artistry that, when infused with the right ingredients (aka other great musicians) becomes something akin the the Green Flash, a rare seafaring phenomenon witnessed by very few sailors – and even then, maybe only once in a lifetime. ALL of the elements have to be in place, in perfect harmony to create the “Flash” and this is what Steve does. He creates that Flash. Lucky us.

Travis Ranney is just plain jaw-dropping. We’ve all seen live bands with sax players that are good and you say to the person next to you, wow, he’s really good.” But if you were in the audience when Travis bit the reed last night, you said nothing. You just allowed your entire body to become a gigantic blossom, a beaming smile, a warm – no, hot fusion of excitement and appreciation. This cat can flat-out blow. Amazing isn’t a word that can really cover it. There were so many open mouths and dropped jaws in the room it would have made a dentist nervous. What a delicious treat.

Then you had Troy and I. Probably the weak links in the big picture of things, but, we do what we do and people just keep loving it. Lena Bundy (Soul’d Out) had the night off from her busy performance schedule and I convinced her to join me in back-up vocals to “Let’s Stay Together” (Al Green). That wasn’t enough for me so I finally convinced her to do a solo number and she just KILLED with “Our Love is Here To Stay.” For those of you who don’t know her, she’s a world-class jazz and pop artist from Sweden also has trained with the same vocal coach that Celine Dion uses in Stockholm. I know… pretty amazing.

Claude, the owner of Vino Bella was finally coaxed up to the microphone to sing “Under the Boardwalk” to a very appreciative and gleeful audience. He can actually sing, he can… Good stage presence too and naturally everyone loved him.

GREAT night for the Pack. We’ll see about getting on the calendar at Vino again in the next couple of months. We don’t like to be away too long…

Tagged as: bass, cocktails, concert, dancing, dean, dean martin, dining, drinking, drums, eastside, entertainment, frank, fun, issaquah, jazz, love, music, Nightlife, performance, piano, rat pack, sexy, sinatra, singing, stabdards, swing, washington, wine