This was my first time playing at the Riverworks Restaurant. They normally don't have live music, but I had left them a press kit last November, and they recently contacted me and asked me to play for a special Jazz Dinner every Thursday in March.

The restaurant is on the second floor (above the tavern). As you come up the stairs, there are two rooms, one to your left and one to your right. If you turn to the room on the right, you enter the dining room you see in the first photo, above. I set up in the back corner, in front of what was once one of the two fireplaces in the room. Directly across from me was the staircase, and an opening into the second dining room -- second photo, above. The third photo shows the view from the second dining room. Overhead, the floor of the old attic has been removed, so it's open to the rafters and the peaked room. There's lots of space for the sound to carry. I was able to play softly and still be heard throughout the entire restaurant, just as I had expected.

Because of the stairs, I had decided to use the Peavy rather than the Ampeg B-15. When you enter the Riverworks, you walk up three steps and go through a door into a small entranceway. The door to the tavern is to your left and to your right is another door that leads up to the restaurant. You go through that door, then up three steps to a small landing, then turn left and climb another ten steps. I had no desire to lug the Ampeg up there. Fortunately, the Peavey sounded great on the gig.

Both dining rooms were packed and people enjoyed the music. The first set I did a lot of recognizable tunes -- Ellington, Jobim, Gershwin. On my break a guy came up to our table and bought a CD. He said he was enjoying the music. He went back to his table and I noticed him looking at the CD. He came back up and said, "I just wanted to say that if I'd programmed your set myself, I wouldn't have done it any differently. I love the Ellington, Jobim, Gershwin."