Recording: Jazz United All-Stars

Artist: Jazz United All-Stars

Song: Well, You Needn't [composer: Thelonious Monk]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Main Hall (Sound For Silence II), February 14, 2019.

Jazz United All-Stars - Well, You Needn't

This Valentine's Day special served to celebrate a very special love — one felt by a whole series of communities for the Tranzac. With all three of its performance spaces often busy all at once, the sounds from one room can often bleed into the next — theoretically charming in its way, but also disruptive when it happens at an intense or quiet moment of a performance. Fundraising efforts to enhance the rooms' sonic isolation have been underway for awhile now, with this night featuring a silent auction as well as a slate of musical talent drawn from several of the divergent scenes that call the Tranzac home.

Anyone visiting The Tranzac on a Sunday night lately might have noticed the burgeoning crowds in the Tiki Room, with a rotating crew of musicians providing live accompaniment to tap dancers. The Jazz United Jam is Travis Knights' celebration of jazz culture, featuring live percussive movement from him and anyone else who brings out a board. It's also an intriguing meeting place for musicians, with veterans of the city's jazz scenes mixing with a whole slew of emerging players.

This all-star distillation of the Sunday night jam not only gave Knights a much larger stage to dance on, but highlighted three of the younger players that often host and handle the organizational side of the music end of things: Kristian Fourier on piano, Devon Patton on bass and Keagan Eskritt on drums. You might not have known that there's a tap dancing scene in this city, but it's one more cool cultural tendril that finds a home at The Tranzac.

[You can check out the Jazz United Jam every Sunday (including tonight!) in teh Tiki Room from 7 'til 10-ish.]