Pizza Express Jazz Club in Soho, London on October 22, 2006
Let me say first of all that I hadn't intended to photograph this gig. Since Kurt Elling is one of my favorite vocalists, I'd decided to make the trip down to London and pay my first visit to the Pizza Express for the second night of his six-night residency there. Enjoyment of the music was my first priority. The venue is a proper jazz club, with tables for the patrons and good food served before the performance; my photography is usually done in theaters where it is relatively easy to move around without disturbing the audience, and that wouldn't have been the case here. However, I'd recently bought a Fuji F30 compact camera, which goes up to ISO 3200, so I thought I'd bring it along just in case the opportunity presented itself to take a few shots... Fortunately my table was in a good position, and the room isn't that big! As for the music, Kurt Elling is a consummate artist who can do great things with any song. He started the first set with "My Foolish Heart", finished the second with his awesome version of Coltrane's "Resolution" and everything in between was a delight. Kurt, Laurence Hobgood, Rob Amster and Willie Jones are a tight-knit quartet who provide musical entertainment of the highest quality.
JazzReview.com
