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Polar bear with carrot

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Robin Adler Trio

Last night I went to the Hilltop Center and caught the Robin Adler Trio. Robin is a jazz singer who happens to be married to my guitar teacher, Dave Blackburn. This trio includes the incredible keyboardist and vocalist Nathan Fry.

The show was very well performed, a lot of standards, from Gershwin to Sinatra, with a Leon Russell tune thrown in for good measure.

Both Robin and Nathan are very agile vocalists and had a lot of fun singing duets on the material. A lot of crooning, Nathan even did a Bobby Darin song. I would be lying if I said that this was necessarily my bag but have to admit that I really enjoyed myself. Fry is a superb keyboardist, with a whole symphony somehow hidden away in his keyboard. Dave is a crack drummer and it was a pleasure to see the whole group perform. Robin's voice was emotive and wonderful as usual.

Dave and Robin are perhaps best known for their work on Joni Mitchell material. Next week they have quite the show planned for the night of November 6th (which happens to be my birthday) at Dizzy's. Their band, Mutts of the Planet, are playing the albums  Court and Spark and Blue in their entirety to celebrate the eve of Joni's 68th birthday. The Mutts are an incredible band, Barnaby Finch who played with Benson, Dave Curtis, Peggy Watson, Danny Campbell, Barry Cahill, Robin, Dave and for this show, Joni's bass player on the original two albums (and many more), Max Bennett, one of the founding members of the L.A. Express.

I will unfortunately be out of town and have to miss this one but encourage you to catch the show if you are a fan of this splendid music. They do a remarkable job.