Updates and New Developments

If the first few days are any indication, the new year will be filled with change for downtown. Faster than a blogger can blog or, certainly, a newspaper can publish, significant developments emerge. I hope as many of the shifts are as exciting as others will be discouraging.

Whenever downtown is mentioned in an article on the Knoxville News Sentinel, the message boards light up with discussion of how the center city is a wasteland of some sort or another. Generally, the logic runs that taxpayer money is wasted by the truckload on  a dead and dangerous place and even if you wanted to take a trip downtown you would end up riding in circles through the night looking for affordable parking. Eventually a few people wade in to defend the city.

Why are so many local residents (or at least readers of our local newspaper) so negative about our city?
I'll leave that topic for future blogs, but today I'll include some of the developments which have brought these folks out in packs.

The primary negative news recently concerns the closure of area restaurants. First, in mid December, Regas announced it was closing. While many people have fond memories of the restaurant, it has struggled for business in recent years. Next, just at the turn of the New Year came news that Arby's was closing downtown. Though at the other end of the culinary spectrum from Regas, it nonetheless was also a long-term downtown dining establishment.

S and W Grand, Gay Street, Knoxville, 2009

Then, on Saturday, the announcement was made that the S and W Grand, which opened to great fanfare about a year ago was shutting its doors at least temporarily. The final closure of the three seems the most damaging to downtown momentum. As expected, a large number of people commented on the Knoxville News Sentinel story and most of them were negative. There were themes that emerged related to the price of the items, portions and lighting. I regret this one the most of the three because of its high-profile opening and its symbolic connection to downtown's re-emergence. I'll also miss having Donald Brown downtown every Saturday night.

The closure of the Saint Oliver has been discussed on this blog and elsewhere. The great news there is that the people who purchased it plan to invest a large amount of money to restore and update it and they plan to do so in short order and reopen as a hotel this spring. I hope that all goes well. The information from this weekend is that a large sale will be held beginning this Thursday of all the items contained in the building. These were collected by Kristopher Kendrick and range from inexpensive to very expensive and from common to unusual, if not rare. I'd love to have something just for the historical connection, but my boss would probably prefer that I work during those hours.

Henley Street north of the bridge, Knoxville 2010

Also worth a mention is that the drive to have something done regarding Henley Street (see post below and poll above) received a great boost this week when Metropulse published Jack Neely's article on the problems and possibilities given the current closure of the bridge. In his, typically eloquent, article he challenged the mayoral candidates to take a stand in their campaigns. Perhaps that is the next  goal for supporters of this effort. My worry is that we are going to have nearly a year of place-holding and no action in that office followed by months of a new mayor becoming acclimated and by that time half or more of the closure period will be over.

Of course, there are openings coming as I mentioned earlier in Just Ripe (which appeared to take a bit of a construction leap this week!), Harry's Deli and Blue Coast Burrito. A reader commented that the space being vacated by Nama's move to Gay Street is already slated to open as a new restaurant. Additionally, with facade grants in place, work is underway to open dual-use buildings as businesses and condos at several locations on Gay Street and Market Square.

So, the news in this very new year is not all bad, it's just constant and we are just over a week into the year. Hang on for the ride.

Knoxville Jazz Fest Blows into Town

It's been a couple of days since I posted. I'm trying to pace myself a bit better, but also, a major event hit Knoxville this weekend and some days I'm in the middle of doing and, so, can't be writing. Yesterday was one of those days. It was exhausting and fun.

I agreed to be a driver for the festival (you might want to read the post from a few days ago to get an idea of what the festival was about this year). Since I love music and am fascinated by musicians, I figured it would be an exciting and interesting day. It was. Some parts were more exciting and others more interesting. I arrived at the airport about ten minutes early, but parked at the wrong place. I figured that out and got to the pick-up point just in time as the band members walked out onto the sidewalk. Ready to be picked up were Vincent Herring, Buster Williams, Larry Willis and Eddie Henderson. All legends and none of them wanting to stand on the curb waiting for the other car, which we had to do for about five painful minutes due to an unavoidable delay. Some were more patient than others.

Larry, who I came to really enjoy through the day told me a pointed story about being late. He said that when he was young he was always late for gigs. A band leader took him aside and told him there were four reasons this was a bad thing. First, the late musician is uptight and rushing to get in place and so he will not play as well. Second, the other musicians are uptight wondering if the person will show and they won't play as well. Third, the audience expected the show to start on time and they will be harder to win over. Fourth, and perhaps most significantly to a young, hungry artist, being late violates the contract and you might not get paid. He was never late again. As he finished the story about breached contracts and being late, I'm sure the beads of sweat on my forehead were obvious to passengers in the descending planes overhead.

Soon enough, the other car arrived. They all piled inside the Mercedes until it was full, leaving Vincent to climb into my Prius. I enjoyed talking to him on the trip to Knoxville, as well as through the course of the day. He seemed struck by my 50+ miles per gallon. We talked a bit about Knoxville and he remembered bits about being here before.

The next pick-up was at 2:30 for sound-check. At that point we learned that our group of four was now a group of seven. Javon Jackson had arrived the previous night, as had Jimmy Cobb. Also added to the group was Tony Wheelock, the group's road manager, who turned out to be a fun, interesting addition to the mix. Javon told everyone he had seen Donald Brown the night before. Several of the others said they wished they had known he was in Knoxville because they would have come early (from New York City) to hear him. It reminded me all over again, what a treasure we have in Donald. I've mentioned it before and will soon post about him, again, along with a nice video I found. Javon later told me that he considers Donald a real mensch. He said it was Donald who gave him him first big break by introducing him to Art Blakey.

Tony talks to Buster with Eddie in the background.

Jimmy adds his cymbals and gets the drums ready.

Eddie tests his sound with Jimmy in the background.

Jimmy playing drums at sound-check.

Eddie and Jimmy.

Jimmy and Javon at sound-check.

With cars full we drove them to the Bijou. Exacting and all-business, the sound-check would be enough for the casual observer to understand that the musicians were exceptional. Precise instructions on placements of drums and piano, including angles and proximity to other musicians followed lengthy instructions regarding volume, tone, reverb, highs and lows on every microphone and both the house and monitor volumes. Pieces of various songs were played, but the opening bars of "So What," the lead track from  "Kind of Blue," seemed to often surface.

Once everyone was satisfied with the sound, a large debate ensued over whether to eat lunch/supper. By then it was around 4:00. Eddie wanted Asian food, not many other people were hungry, so they made the obvious choice: Calhoun's on the River for ribs. I took a couple of the guys back to the hotel.

Jimmy graciously poses with anyone who asks.

The reception started at 5:30 and a small crowd gathered to greet Jimmy Cobb, who was very gracious. All these guys are stars in the jazz universe and I wondered how they felt back at the hotel while Jimmy was honored. If you follow the links above you see that they have each have very established and often stellar careers. If there was dissatisfaction on this day, I couldn't tell it.

The concert began around 8:00 with opening remarks by Donald Brown, followed by a short film and then the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra. I'm embarrassed to admit this is the first time I've heard them, but I'll say the musicianship was excellent, all around. New local resident, Greg Tardy joined in for a portion of the set and got a great response from the crowd of about 500.

I left early to pick up the guys at the hotel and found Tony already seated in the lobby. It was another chance to talk with a person who has had a very interesting career in the music business. I enjoyed several such conversations with him during the day, and enjoyed connecting on the various forms of music and musicians we both enjoyed. He's a laid-back, easy guy to work with and I'm glad he came along.

Tony and Larry share a laugh before the show.

Jimmy and Vincent in the hotel lobby before the show.

Jimmy gets assistance with his drum set-up before the show.

Jimmy makes sure everything is in place before the curtain rises.

The guys looked much prettier than they had earlier and we made the drive, yet another time, to the Bijou. After the Knoxville Jazz Orchestra finished their set, I watched the set up back stage and was impressed at how efficiently the guys working behind the scene got everything broken down and replaced everything from instruments to sound-levels back to the specifications requested at the sound check.

The guys take final bows.

The show, for me, while excellent, seemed more a continuation of the day than a real climax to the day. The guys were smooth, professional and seemed to be in good spirits, often seen laughing about some private joke or mistake. No one addressed the crowd until Jimmy said a few words at the conclusion. Most of the audience stayed until the conclusion, but some wandered out - a behavior that has always mystified me at concerts. What if the magic moment is after you get into your car? Those who stayed seemed to have a great time.

After the show, the guys were in no hurry to leave, but finally assembled to travel to the S and W for a late-night jam session. I took several there, came back to the Bijou and took Tony to the hotel and returned to the S and W around midnight for the start of the jam session. It was fun, but if ever there were too many musicians in the house, this might have been the night. Jimmy and his band mostly stayed at their tables while local favorites in various alignments, including many from the KJO entertained the crowd.

Ben Maney plays an inspired set at the S and W.

One highlight was the piano work of Ben Maney who most of us know best from the Tennessee Shines house band.

Larry closes down the night.

My favorite performance of a day filled with great performances came at just after 1:30AM. Larry took the grand piano and played a beautiful, soft and plaintive version of  an old Duke Ellington song. I missed the name of the song, but it was a gorgeous, elegant ending to a great day of music. All that remained was one final trip to the Holiday Inn and falling into bed at 2:00AM, exhausted and happy at the conclusion of another great chapter of the city.

Saturday Night in the City

One of my favorite things in the world is music. One of the reasons I love living downtown is the availability of music. I don't know if Knoxville is unique in the quantity of the quality of our music, but I think we might be, for our size. There is a tremendous musical heritage which I may sprinkle in as I go in the coming months, but suffice to say that in its current state, there is too much great music for a regular guy to afford. Sometimes I can snag a deal, like when I saw B.B. King at the Tennesee Theatre in January, paying $30 for a $75 ticket. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet like I did last week when I paid $140 to see Neil Young. It was completely worth the money. But other times there is great music to be had on the cheap. Such was last Saturday night.

I almost didn't go out. I had driven over 500 miles, round trip, to Birmingham that day. I felt a cold coming on. It was a steamy night that reminded me of the great nights of music in New Orleans when I was young. I put on my city cap and headed to Gay Street. My first stop was the S&W Grand which is a restored restaurant on Gay Street.

The prices tend toward the high end, but for the price of a drink or coffee and desert Donald Brown played his smooth jazz starting at 8:00. Donald is a local legend in the Knoxville Jazz scene. He played with Art Blakey and has recorded extensively playing the piano. The music was a perfect way to start the evening. He and his band hit a one intricate groove after another, with Donald trading lead with the saxaphone player. Bass and drums finished the quartet. Donald later introduced the drummer as one of his favorites, which must be a relief to Kenneth, Donald's son, who plays the drums in the combo.

The music was excellent and a little bonus was seeing Edye Ellis grooving to the tunes. It send me back in time. Edye was a reporter when she came to Knoxville in 1982. That was the year I arrived and she was soon co-anchor of WBIR's nightly news broadcast. The last time I'd seen her at a concert was in the mid to late 80's at Ella Guru's, Ashley Capp's first local venture. The artist that evening was the lovely Odetta and Edye's dinner companion was Alex Haley. A very classy lady. After the first set, I walked down to the Old City to the Crown and Goose where Slow Blind Hill pounded out the blues starting at 9:00.

The Crown and Goose is an affordable English Pub specializing in Fish and Chips. This evening they also served up very tasty blues. Slow Blind Hill has been performing in Knoxville for many years. I used to catch them at Border's Books in West Knoxville. Sadly, their incredible trumpet player, Charlie Box, died several years ago. The re-shaped band brought in Henry Perry on harmonica and the sound shifted. The sound is still excellent which was obvious from the opening jam through chesnuts like "Sitting on Top of the World" and "Sweet Home Chicago." Sadly, as is true in most such places, a few people listened, a few danced and most talked over the music or watched the hockey game on TV. Their loss.

At the conclusion of Slow Blind Hill's excellent set, I walked down the street and around the corner to Barley's Taproom and Pizzaria.

For a $5 cover charge, Robinella and her band would throw down their jazzy country-swing until well into the morning. The thing I like about hearing music at Barley's is that I've paid a cover and I don't feel obligated to buy anything else as long as I'm not taking a table, which I don't because I like to be close to the music, as the photos below show. I had not hear Robinella since her split with Cruse and the CC String Band. I think her new lineup suits her better. She has added a trumpet player and that fits her jazz sound better than the mandolin she used to sing against. She was on her game with modest scatting accentuating the trumpet solos and her own specialized blue notes with a drawl informing classics and standards. I love her treatment of "I'm so lonesome I Could Cry."

After listening to Robinella's set, I walked back through the Old City. One of the interesting businesses in the area is a cereal bar.

The Knoxville Pearl Cereal bar seems to do a good business, but it almost seems like a child's store in the midst of our grundgiest section of downtown. It had as many pierced and tattooed patrons as any other business in the district. Through the window I watched a guy and a girl playing on a crystal chess set. She was taking him apart.

To end the night, I walked back onto Gay Street and sat outside the doors of the S&W listening to Donald Brown. Inside I saw the saxaphone player from Aftah Party. There was also an older man in a white fedora. I thought I should know him, but I couldn't place him. Looking through the window and hearing the muted jazz on a warm, humid night reminded me of standing as a child outside the window of Preservation Hall on Saint Peter Street in New Orleans and listening to the Preservation Hall Jazz Band play the classic dixieland. It was the best, but this was good. About midnight the music ended and I walked the three blocks home. I could almost hear a "saxaphone someplace far off play."