A Great Coffeehouse

Our kids go to a great school in downtown Manhattan called Little Red Elisabeth Irwin (LREI).  The high school, known as Elisabeth Irwin, does an event every couple months called The Coffeehouse.

It’s basically an open mic night for the community but they also bring in performers to spice up the show.  Here’s my flickr photostream from last night’s coffeehouse.

Last night was fantastic.  We were treated to a three song set by Jimmy Norman, a R&B veteran who recorded with the likes of Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix and who supposedly penned the lyrics to Irma Thomas’ Time Is On My Side which was popularized by The Stones. 

Anyway, Jimmy was great and it was a real treat so see someone with so much musical history in his life.

That was followed by a trio called The Three A Trio playing Mendelssohn. 

As good as Jimmy was, these kids were just as amazing.  To hear three high school kids play classical music at that level was a real treat and the whole place was mesmerized.

Josh’s band, The Four Fellas, had to follow that up and what they lacked in musicianship, they made up in youth, energy, and enthusiasm.  They played Rebel Rebel and Sweet Home Alabama.  These kids have been playing together as a band for a couple years now and although they are only ten years old, they know what they are doing up on stage and really enjoy it.

The version of Sweet Home Alabama was particularly strong and I encouraged them to dive deeper into the southern rock genre.  There will be some Allman Brothers appearing on their iPods shortly!

We then were treated to a few more acts and then finished with the traditional blues jam where everyone in the place, performers and audience is invited up to the stage for a freewheeling blues jam.  Josh provided the beat for the jam and had a great time doing it.