Imagine you intended to form a jazz-based band in Kansas City. Who would you pick to join your ensemble? Jeff Davis chose wisely. The version of Sir Threadius Mongus that performed Friday at La Esquina included Matt Otto, Russell Thorpe and Andrew McGhie on reeds, Stan Kessler on trumpet, Mike Stover on bass and Jonathan Taylor on drums. Davis plays guitar.
That band could play most anything, including Davis' dense Mingus-inspired compositions. Here's an example. Davis, to his credit, didn't take a single solo in the thirty minutes I was there. (First Friday's siren song is irresistible.)
Aside from the screech of trains slowing down as they passed through downtown ("coal-trains" a witty friend accurately observed), La Esquina served as an ideal performance space. Yet in spite of the free beer, absence of a cover charge and a promotional push by the Charlotte Street Foundation, only a handful of people attended.
Everyone else missed out on something special.
(Original image by Plastic Sax.)
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