...walked outside to enjoy the sunset this evening and heard music....hmm that's an awful darn loud stereo...no that's live..and it's jazz! Walked down to where I saw an open garage door and lights on, just a few houses down the street and there it was, a live jazz big band practicing for a gig.

Neighbor pulled into her drive next to where I was standing, she was returning home from work, and I asked "how long has this been goin' on"...she looked puzzled as if she was unsure whether I was going to complain so she replied "weekly, and we really like it. We have barbeque's and listen to the music". I said well I like it too...she looked relieved and we listened and talked about how much we love the love the neighborhood...ain't life grand...great night.

Oh and the sunset was beautiful and the night warm....

Any vacancies??!! :music:

There is a house for sale close by...

That sounds awesome. A Thai restuarant here has a small jazz ensemble play on Friday and Saturday nights from 7-10. We eat there usually one of those nights every week. Great atmosphere, great food and excellent live music. Hard to beat!

Man, that sounds great.

Albany Oregon huh. I saw that on a mapquest glance the other day. When I'm stressed out at work I like to mapquest places I'd like to retire. Ended up in Oregon the other day. Looks pretty sweet up there. Sounds like my kind of place too.

Take care,

Ed

Thats really sweet. I wish we had a jazz band around here. Instead, we get the neighbor practicing drums (and me noodling on guitar when I'm not too lazy).

Man, that sounds great.

Albany Oregon huh. I saw that on a mapquest glance the other day. When I'm stressed out at work I like to mapquest places I'd like to retire. Ended up in Oregon the other day. Looks pretty sweet up there. Sounds like my kind of place too.

Take care,

Ed

Albany actually is a working class community...I live in the SW end of town in the community college neighborhood called the "College Green". It's detached from the rest of the community and actually Albany is kind of fractured that way...very interesting place. This isolated neighborhood has all kinds of people...nearly all lower to upper middle class...from various walks of life from folks who work with their hands to professionals and from small business owners to government employees...black, white, latino and asian we have a cross section here and it's a great neighborhood to live in.

I used to live in Albany CA- that's why I noticed it. Really, sounds very similar. But when I lived in Albany CA, it was getting too expensive for blue colar folks to live there anymore. A lot of them sold their houses and moved on. But thre was still enough diversity to make it a nice place to live. That's one thing I don't like about my neighborhood here in Denver. It's an expensive neighborhood and all white, upper middle class/management folks. I'm not complaining, but it's not as much of a "community". Just a buch of folks with houses next to each other. That make any sense?

I used to live in Albany CA- that's why I noticed it. Really, sounds very similar. But when I lived in Albany CA, it was getting too expensive for blue colar folks to live there anymore. A lot of them sold their houses and moved on. But thre was still enough diversity to make it a nice place to live. That's one thing I don't like about my neighborhood here in Denver. It's an expensive neighborhood and all white, upper middle class/management folks. I'm not complaining, but it's not as much of a "community". Just a buch of folks with houses next to each other. That make any sense?

It does make sense indeed...don't get me wrong I probably wouldn't complain living in your neighborhood either...it would mean I made more money than I do ...lol! But I do love my neighborhood. We have everyone from the plumber and social workers (me and my wife) to doctors, lawyers, millworkers....you name it we have it.

That's pretty cool. No complaints for a change. Nice.

Speaking as a working musician, this is a nice post to read. Thanks to anyone that supports live music.

Very cool Art...Oregon is a great place to live for sure..






Bill

We're very fortunate in the Santa Cruz, CA area to have lots of hobbyist jazz bands that play in many places throughout the week.

I'm one of those dudes who play for the fun of it - and, secretguy, I don't consider myself a working musician....big-time respect for you guys.

Its nice to hear there are other places like Albany, OR, where the same thing happens and that people really do enjoy it.

BTW, my other home in Little Rock, AR, doesn't have this sort of thing going on that much. Lots of blues and country music there but only in bigger venues; not the quieter, old-school jazz type music.

Outside of the larger metro areas, I wonder where there are pockets of this sort of local culture?

Cheers,

David