...and music continues

Monday Night  before the big holiday music break, that is,  it is December 18th and the following Mondays until the first open Monday of the new years things will pretty much closed around town. In anticipation of the hiatus few of the regulars I sit with arrived early. I myself drove around for a while trying to find an ATM to pay a cover charge in anticipation of the one day out of month they charged a very modest fee to the the performers. I couldn't find one so I just took my chances and showed up and luckily there was none.

 It was a packed house with almost all tables occupied. Had small talk with my friends.  The talent was International known with roots in Hartford.

It was Jovan Alexandre the Saxophonist trio with Matt Dwonszyk on bass and J.K. Kim on drums from South Korea. They honored the holiday atmosphere by playing fantastic masterful done innovative songs along with a few jazzed up charlie brown songs. The band definitely earned its keep and played to the crowd.

Below a pen and ink sketch of the trio with it's tall band Leader Jovan cutting a confident pose outlined by a thick red curtain that covered the windows while they played.

Monday Night Jazz

 

Monday Night Jazz

 

 

 

On a quiet Monday night between Thanksgiving and Christmas saw another great jazz set at “Black Eyes” restaurant. As I sat at a table with another regular and friend I listen to music that had smooth and catchy beats. The sketch below is from Monday night yesterday.

Pen on paper approx 8” x 11”

From left to right

 

Scott Sasanecki on guitar

Jocelyn Pleasant on drums

Steve "King" Porter on Bass

Warren Byrd on piano

 

 

A Student's Dive

A Student's Dive

 Soft echoing voices in a place with soft pleasant lights done up to look smart and eloquent, place of comfort and a place known to hipsters away from the stuffy. Hear I came to the University of Hartford's Starbucks coffee shop (a school which now I am an alum) conveniently built into the library. 

I went to the library to complete an art assignment for a friend that we booth had procrastinated on for a while. It was designing labels for his candy campaign a simple brain child idea that had the potential to create ownership away from his corporate world.

Given my now mid age I looked upon the student with a new kind of older perspective.  That is that they are the continuation of a cycle of hopefuls. Hopefuls to become leaders, entrepreneurs, teachers, doctors, husband, wives and innocent of failures trials and tribulations of the professional working world... almost cute. Their ordering of the drinks and snacks reflected just that, their voices were soft and almost innocent, how we all acted when first left home, as a crowd of students that gathered to pick up their orders after efficient machine like execution of the Starbucks staff.

Below is a quick sketch done in ink on paper while waiting for my hot chocolate.