Review: Jerry Dodgion at Take Five Coffee + Bar

A quintet fronted by saxophonists Jerry Dodgion and Rob Scheps thrilled me on Thursday, April 11, at Take Five Coffee + Bar.  Here are ten takeaways from Thursday's show.

• Dodgion, 80, can do a deeper knee squat than I.
• Dodgion is still in possession of his cool West Coast chops.
• When feminists decry "the cult of masculinity so prevalent in jazz" , they undoubtedly have guys like Scheps in mind. 
• Bassist Bob Bowman has been no better than great the past several times I've heard him.  He was exceptional Thursday.
• Scheps noted that Bowman and Dodgion last shared a bandstand 37 years ago as members of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra.
• A copy of Roger Wilder's news CD at my table (it wasn't mine) drew excited attention from every jazz fan who spotted it. 
• I've said it before and I'll say it again- Brian Steever is among the most visually entertaining drummers in jazz.
• It doesn't make any sense, but the acoustics at Take Five Coffee + Bar are the best of any jazz venue in the Kansas City area.
• The core audience of about two dozen jazz fans didn't make a peep.  Even the non-jazz customers who popped in and out of the coffee shop were respectful of the performance.
• Dodgion's statement on "It Was a Very Good Year" was one of the best things I've heard in 2013.

(Original image by Plastic Sax.  From left to right: Roger Wilder, Jerry Dodgion, Brian Steever.)