Musical Monday - TuTone - Jazz That Walks on Little Cat Feet

Last night, we were treated to a fine concert from Tutone, the musical duo Cindy Horstman and Michael Medina. Cindy plays an electric harp, the first I’ve ever seen. The sound is crisp, ringing and often reminded me of dark chocolate. Michael plays a five string bass, configured in his own way so that there is a rich toned midrange string to explore melody lines. They have both been at their craft for many years and that was in evidence throughout the concert.

The selections ranged from Sting’s "Fragile" to a sparkling “Scarborough Fair”. They did Lennon/McCartney “Norwegian Wood” in a version that already haunts me.

The high point for me was the Bill Withers song “Ain’t No Sunshine”. This version was just the music. You didn’t need to know the lyrics to feel the plaintive loneliness and longing.

Besides Lennon/McCartney and Withers, the duo performs numbers by Horace Silver, Carlos Santana and Wayne Shorter. Cindy Horstman is an accomplished composer too. I liked “Tailwind” and “Blue”.

TuTone is one of those groups that can slip jazz into your mind over any objections. What ever you thought of jazz before, you can change your mind now.

Yeah. I was impressed. You can tell can’t you?

Today in 1963 we lost Dinah Washington to a drug overdose at the age of 39. She had 34 top 10 hits on the Billboard R&B charts. How many lessons do we need?

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