Recording: The "Ryan Driver" Sextet

Artist: The "Ryan Driver" Sextet

Songs: We Kiss in a Shadow [composers: Oscar Hammerstein II/Richard Rodgers] + Can’t Get Out of This Mood [Jimmy McHugh/Frank Loesser]

Recorded at The Tranzac (Southern Cross Lounge), July 31, 2026.

The "Ryan Driver" Sextet - We Kiss in a Shadow

The "Ryan Driver" Sextet - Can’t Get Out of This Mood

Perhaps because it is so longstanding and rock-solid at its core, the Ryan Driver Sextet is actually a fairly malliable concept — if a member can't make it out to the Tranzac on the last Friday of the month, the arrangements can tighten up a little or a sub can be called in. Less frequent (though not unheard of) is mainman Ryan Driver sitting one out, and on this night Thom Gill (who has also played with the group as a fill-in) took on the cap and the seat at the piano to lead the band through some languid standards. It would be overstating things to say that Gill was trying to playfully destabilize the proceedings, but he did out his own stamp on the set, bringing along a few standards that have been on his mind (including Abbey Lincoln's "They Call It Jazz", which he also esssayed recently with the trio Cows in Rain).

[The group will be back in action — in Quintet formation — tomorrow night (Friday, August 28th) with Michael Davidson absent and with Mateos Labbé-Phelan sitting in on drums.]