Nicky Rocks the basement

SOLO

 

After Andayoma, on Saturday I went home to relax a bit and to think about where and what I wanted to eat. I also had no particular place in my mind to hang out after dinner. There were no special events on my calendar on that evening. I had not been to B28 in ages and I figured it is sort of a steady thing. Nicole Duffel is a guarantee for some good jazz.

I did not know who else would be playing with her, but knowing Nicole she would get a couple of great companions for her regular gig in the Basement. For dinner I walked up and down Club Street a couple of times to decide what to eat and where to eat. I ended up at PS Café a more familiar address for a pricy burger than the other places in the area.

The last time I visited B28, it was packed and the atmosphere was a bit clubby. The live music seemed to be a bit in the way of people back then. This evening the place was comfortably filled with people listening, drinking and enjoying each other’s company and the presence of the band.

When I got in I soon discovered who would form the rest of the group

Oliver von Essen on Organ

Eddie Layman on Drums

From a picture perspective, this bar provided a nice feature for our view on Oliver as well. 

Also Nicky’s outfit showed a fine attention to detail, and nicely matched the orange lighting spread around by the top-lit bar of B28.

I liked the song choice of the evening; nice swinging Jazz tunes but not the usual standards and all instrumentalist played their instruments to its full capacity. Including Eddie, whose drums seemed to be a much smaller version of what we normally see. I don’t know if that is done to save space or reduce the volume, but the latter definitely did not work for Eddie.

All in all I had fun that evening at B28. I was a bit afraid that the light would be too difficult for me to take a decent shot, but I think that came out ok. Otherwise there was a good atmosphere in the basement, that, because of how it is tucked away in an alley and because of it’s space with low sealing and souterrain positioning, gives it a feel of what I think a speakeasy could have been like… however with a very upscale twist.