Thumbs up to jazz, wine event

The recent jazz and wine event at the Grand Tradition gets a “10.”

I was skeptical to attend the first jazz and wine concert, as there are often bugs the first time out the gate. But, as I asked more questions at the Grand Tradition, we finally decided to buy the $65 tickets so we could wander the gardens and try the food and wine “tastes.”

Well, what an experience. The gardens were so beautiful, and the “tastes” were very plentiful, high quality, and very tasty. The wine “tastes” were four-ounce pours of some very good wines.

The real clincher was many of the main stage jazz artists played in the garden areas where the food and wine was being served. I have never seen a jazz harpist before, but Lori Andrews has us all rocking. She was fabulous. Spencer Day, the Michael Buble of jazz, impressed us in the gardens before his main stage performance. Michael Paulo kept us clapping and swaying way after the evening was scheduled to end. Paul Brown was a great guitarist and Brian Simpson a talented keyboard musician, was also quite the comic.

I hope the date for next year’s event (there will be another one next year, right?) is published soon, so we can mark our calendars and invite more friends. This was the classiest jazz concert we have ever been to.

Dolly & Larry Harty