I miss “Jenks and Jones” and Shep’s Paradise” and the old school R&B lounges on Rochester’s west side. Those days are not coming back but the urban pioneers over at Tala Vera on State Street are doing their best to update the concept. They have an ideal back room for music with a piano, a built in sound system and a red curtain behind the stage. We heard a fantastic trio called “10 to the 32nd Kelvin” there last night while they recorded the night for a live album. Bass player, Kevin Ray, stood center stage as well he should, a equally fluid melodic and rythmic player, with Frank Lacy on Trombone and Andrew Drury on drums. My favorite passages were when the horn player accompanied the drummer on percussion. All the better to feature my favorite instrument, the upright bass.
This part of the city is on the upswing but progress slow. I know the strip club next door is gone and the ghosts remain but I couldn’t tell whether “Tajze Wine and R&B Lounge” (with a bullet hole through the glass right under the “a” in “and”) was coming or going. We drove home during their break and were able to catch the second set on a live video feed from Tala Vera’s site.
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