All That Jazz! (Todd and Chris)

This has been a wonderful week!  We started out with Todd's birthday on Monday... I love to celebrate Todd because he is so awesome!

This is last year because I didn't take any pictures this year.  But he looks pretty much the same.
Once you're grey, well, you're grey.

McKay, Todd and Alex in Seaside, Oregon

Todd's mom and dad came from Oregon to help us celebrate.

Todd's mom and dad -- aren't they cute?  And they are so nice!

We went to the Brick Oven  for dinner and then had cake and ice cream and presents.  It was fun.  Happy Birthday Todd!!

Then on Wednesday, Todd and I and his mom and dad had a real treat... we went to see Chris Botti in concert at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake.

Chris Botti

He was wonderful!!  We all had a blast!!!  He played a lot of jazz that night as well as several other genres.    The fun thing about his music is that he collaborates with lots of other artists... sometimes they accompany him, and sometimes it seems that he accompanies them.  There's a lot of variety and it's exciting.

For this concert he brought a pianist, violinist, a guitar player, a bass player, a drummer, a keyboard player, and two vocalists.  They were all amazing. They played for two hours with no intermission and it was a joy!  

We all were blown away by what a great entertainer he was.  Besides being one of the best trumpet players on the planet, he was warm and funny and seemed to spend most of the night drawing our attention to the talents of the artists in his band.  He was very humble and really enjoyed just hanging out on stage even when someone else was in the spotlight.  

Our whole family loves to listen to his CDs.  They are easy to love and have a great variety of musical styes.   Our favorites are: 

Impressions

Italia

               

and

Chris Botti in Boston

The special guests on these albums include -- Andrea Bocelli, Sting, Vince Gill, Josh Groban, etc., etc.  I listen to Impressions nearly every day.

Whenever I attend a concert like this, I'm humbled when I consider how many hours of practice it takes before the artists are ready to share their talents with me. I am so grateful.

 Live music gives me so much joy!  It was  fun to share the evening with Todd and his mom and dad!