Roxboro Entertainment debut, 28Jan11

Friday night (28Jan11) was the debut night for Stanley Clarke's new label, Roxboro Entertainment, featuring 4 artists, Lloyd Gregory (guitar), Sunnie Paxson (keyboard), Ruslan (keyboard) Kennard Ramsey (guitar). I was a guest of "Barefoot Music News" (so, I was actually "on the guest list," my first time actually "being on the list!" The doors opened around 8:30 or so and the crowd was huge, filling the top floor of The Federal Bar in North Hollywood. Dan, the guy who runs Barefoot Music News, was VERY impressed with the talent that was in the crowd, a real who's who of jazz in L.A.

There was general socializing and milling about for about an hr, then each artist played 2 of their songs from their albums. All 4 were amazing (and the band backing them up were just outstanding as well). Around 11:30, all 4 were done and then the jam session began. Anyone could go on stage and...holy shit, there were some just outstanding musicians in the crowd that had brought their instruments. The jam session ran past 1:30 (when I finally left, I was tired!).

As I walked back to my motel...I had a real "you know you're in L.A. (more specifically, Hollywood), as I saw to NYFD (yes, New York Fire Dept) trucks going down the street. No, I wasn't that drunk!

Overall, an amazing night of jazz. I was glad I got to go!