Byron Stripling and Friends

I have mentioned before that I'm a musician and a jazz enthusiast. I play the trumpet and have been very fortunate to have seen many great trumpet players in concert. If you're a trumpet enthusiast you should recognize the names of Wynton Marsalis, Maynard Ferguson, Wayne Bergeron, Allen Vizzutti, Arturo Sandoval, Chris Botti, Dan Fornero, and Ronald Romm. I cannot even begin to describe the combined greatness of these trumpet artists and have seen them all in concert, even met a few of them. Last night I had the opportunity to see another great one in concert.

For Christmas my grandma bought four tickets to a Byron Stripling concert. It seemed such a long time to wait from December until April, but it was well worth it. My grandma, my youngest brother, my girlfriend, and I all enjoyed A Cabaret Evening with Byron Stripling last night. He had a combo of drums, bass, and piano. They played many classic jazz standards from Duke Ellington's "Caravan" to Dizzy Gillespie's "A Night in Tunisia" to an incredible piano-only rendition of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". Stripling also sang a comical, play on words version of "Pennies from Heaven" called "Benny's from Heaven" and closed with the classic entertaining, crowd involving, gospel tune "When the Saints Go Marching In" with many others in between. Stripling dazzled with soulful melodic lines and tasty improvisation, the drummer Robert Breithaupt kept a solid, stylistic reign throughout, the upright acoustic bass player Lynn Seaton provided a strong foundation as well as fast improvisation (sometimes even with a bow) and perhaps the most impressive performer of them all was Bobby Floyd, a phenomenal pianist.

Afterwards, I guess because my grandma is a VIP, we went to a private party at an art gallery, had dessert and coffee, and met some of the performers. Stripling seemed very personable when I got his autograph and I had a nice little conversation with Bobby Floyd. My brother, who is a pretty good pianist, fantastic composer, and learning jazz also enjoyed talking with Floyd. It was a very fun evening and I thank my grandma for this amazing Christmas present in April. If you get a chance to look these guys up and learn more about them do it. And if you have the opportunity to see them in concert I highly recommend it.