Bethesda, MD (DC metro) -- July 21, 2016 -- w/ Dave Damiani

[Tusk]

Thanks to popfly's last vid of DD singing & introducing the band, I have the entire band's roster (with help from John)

Gary Matsumoto (Piano)
Alex Frank (Bass)
Aaron McLendon (Drums)
Bijon Watson (Trumpet)
Luke Brandon (Trumpet)
Sarah Marie Hughes (Alto Sax)
Leigh Pilzer (Bari Sax)
Elijah Jamal Balbed (Tenor Sax)
Reginald Cyntje (Trombone)

When I can, I like to give credit to the performers in the description of my vids

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I also loved this version of at last... there are so many ways to spin the song.. some with larger spoonfuls of Nostalgia, some with pinches of Wistfulness, and some with a few heavy dashes of Triumph .. like this one has.

I really like the pianist here ...because of his swagger and sort of shameless glee in his chords/runs . I can think of a like Gene Kelly in singing in the rain or something.

I agree, Gary Matsumoto's piano play really stands out among the instruments as it compliments Haley's vocals well. One of the negatives to the Laguna vids is you never got to have a good listen to his keyboard playing because of ambient noise. I was able to listen to Laguna audio w/o crowd noise and his keyboards were pretty good back then as well, we just couldn't hear it clearly

Another thing came to mind, the Laguna Beach performance is awesome, but having listened to this version a few times, what strikes me is how much smoother Haley goes into and out of the song, what's it called, her 'phrasing'(?) is just so easy as it glides (not sure if that's the right word).... It just stood out to me on this performance.

I wondered if this was the difference between getting rehearsal time w/ the band and not getting any (Haley had less than an hour to rehearse and they stopped after trying on two songs at Laguna..... she told me she thought the show didn't go as well as she liked, but I convinced her she was great, then she agreed to let me post the videos)...maybe that's what she was referring to, she hadn't familiarized herself w/ their arrangement, maybe in her mind, being a perfectionist, she could've done much better.

I think she was really really good on this performance
(Dan Kaneyuki's sax is missed though )