Small concerts are the best. There’s nothing wrong with super-sized, stadium-filling mega-shows, but sometimes music is best enjoyed on a small scale. One of the best small-scale concerts I ever attended was in a tiny church on a tiny island, and it featured German-Canadian pianist Michael Kaeshammer.
Kaeshammer, along with his drummer and bassist, were squeezed onto the “stage” (ie. a small area in front of the altar) and were so close to the audience that even in the back rows you had the sense that you could reach out and touch them.
They performed jazz standards, up-beat boogie-woogie numbers, and all kinds of crowd pleasers. At one point, the drummer got out from his cramped quarters and started walking around the small space, tapping the sticks against various parts of the church during an extended and interesting drum solo. The audience loved it.
Oh yeah, the audience. I forgot to mention that because the concert was in an area largely inhabited by retirees, most of the concert-goers were white-haired and highly adorable. Between songs, they would whisper things to each other in that endearing way old people have of whisper-shouting, not realizing that they are actually speaking quite loudly. Even better, most of what they were whisper-shouting was about how handsome Michael Kaeshammer was. Whenever he’d sing a lyric that had some kind of sexy undertone, a row of Golden Girls-type ladies would wink at him and giggle to each other.
There was a moment during the concert, however, when everyone was quiet. When the drummer and the bassist took a break, Kaeshammer turned off his mic, and played this gorgeous song.
What makes this a beautiful song:
1. The continuous swaying chords in the left hand are reminiscent of Erik Satie.
2. The little flutter up the scale at 1:51.
3. The frantically repeated note at 2:52.
Recommended listening activity:
Scooping a large serving of ice cream into a small bowl.