First of two parts, in partnership with Arlene Morse
From the relative lowlands of LaBrea Avenue and Hancock Park, our search for compelling club-style jazz entertainment last Saturday evening carried us to the heights.
Should we veer Downtown?
Verify that the promoted club on LaBrea really was closed?
Or take our chances up in the scenic hills of Bel Air, deep inside iconic Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Grill and Jazz club, at the crown of Beverly Glen, in the slinky shadows of Mulholland?
For reasons too dense to plumb this morning, one of us shrewdly voted Vibrato. He concurred.
One shoe inside the serious door would have convinced even a deaf and sightless pessimist that She Who Must Vote just had locked up the job.
Opening into a spacious, magnificently appointed, subtly illumined main room, a swift scan of the floor confirmed that every table was occupied by smiling, glasses-clinking aficionados on the sunny side of 45.
A comely receptionist who could have been a performer, or a model, suggested a perspective from the balcony not only was palatable but desirable, given the alternative: Listening from the chilly interior of our car in surroundings that, admittedly, were charming, architecturally attired in curious shops, decorated windows, a shopper’s paradise, a lovely neighborhood, a hidden treasure.
How to Compromise
One of Us was dubious. The Other of Us was dubious about dubiosity, hungering for a taste of calorie-rich jazz in this charming setting.
We compromised. One folded into the Other. We angled toward the stairway that could have been the inspiration for the 1940s pop hit, “Stairway to the Stars.” We nearly could fingertip them.
With a whiff of understated fanfare, She Who Must Vote scored her second triumph of the early evening. We took our right-angle seats in almost perfect position to enjoy the mellifluous jazz tones of pianist Josh Nelson, drummer Mark Feber, and their leader, bassist Pat Senator.
But this story is not about them. Or us.
Because One of Us was so perfectly placed to become immediately acquainted with our Gem of the Night, Hussain Jiffry, an accomplished musical performer-writer-producer-instrumentalist-singer.
On this occasion, the versatile Mr. Jiffry, a mid-life lookalike for Little Richard, was playing sound engineer.
He who girdled the globe for 18 years with the noted Sergio Mendes and Brasil 66, floated into our laps and converted a mere musically muscular evening into a memorable journey into scrapbook territory.
One of Us with the Keener Insight, who needs no introduction, instantly struck a chord with the most cheerful, authentic 20th century export from mysterious Sri Lanka.
That really is where Our Story begins.
(To be continued)
