I have followed the career of David Benoit for too many years to count.   My first CD of his was the ever popular Freedom at Midnight and I actually went backwards from there, getting my hands on all of the older CDs.  I am proud to say that I have each and every one in his collection.  Going to his shows are also a treat.  In this day and age when package tours are the norm, it’s a breath of fresh air to get to see a top-notch solo artist and experience 90 minutes of wonderful music.  And again, I have seen David perform more times than I can count, but this time at Blues Alley in the Georgetown section of Washington, DC, something was different.

Recently I had seen David and his bandmates, drummer Jamey Tate and bassist David Hughes, along with sax man Jeff Kashiwa, perform at the Berks Jazz Fest (see the review in the May issue of SmoothViews.com).  The show was one of the best of the festival and that spirit continued at Blues Alley.  The weekend consisted of six shows in three days and this time it was the trio sans Kashiwa.  I attended two of the shows which proved to be two of the best shows seen in recent times. 

David’s trio has been playing together for about four years now and are not only a tight band that plays incredibly well, but also a band that can pick up on each other’s cues, stray from the set list, and keep the crowd happy.  The shows included some tunes from David’s latest release, Heroes.  “Never Can Say Goodbye,” “Mountain Dance,” and Light My Fire” started things off and really got the crowd fired up.  A favorite tune, “If I Were A Bell” was up next with the band really putting their hearts into it.  David also released a CD called Jazz For Peanuts last year and graced the crowd with a couple of terrific Charlie Brown songs, “Wild Kids” and “The Great Pumpkin.”  He then gave this appreciative audience some of his classic favorites, or “vintage Benoit” as he liked to refer to them.  “Freedom at Midnight,” “Kei’s Song,” and “M.W.A.” were played to massive ovations.  David then played a request of a seldom played tune, “If I Could Reach Rainbows,” which was a solo piano song and brought this reviewer to tears (it being my request was part of it.)  The set for this show ended with “Watermelon Man,” “Beat Street,” and an encore of the infamous “Linus and Lucy.” 

The set list for the late show that night was relatively the same, but with a few twists.  David was apparently feeling a little mischievous and decided to throw some curves to his band by playing a couple of things they were not prepared for, and had songs like “Freedom at Midnight” morph into “Café Rio,” which wasn’t supposed to be on the set.  But being the consummate professionals that they are, Jamey Tate and David Hughes picked right up on the intro and went with it.  The late show also included another request from a fan for the beautiful “Song For My Father.”

Having David Benoit and the trio at Blues Alley is always a fun time and for those lucky enough to see any of the shows, they will tell you that each and every year they perform there, they bring down the house.  This was definitely no exception.