San Diego Sophistication

Tonight was a night of pleasant surprise. Months ago, Jaime had suggested we go to Anthology, a restaurant cum jazz club in Little Italy. We finally agreed on this evening. Always great to spend time with Jaime and The T Man, but I was skeptical that I would enjoy the evening. I thought jazz club, dinner, this is going to be very loud and we won't be able to talk and the music will be lousy. Quite the contrary.

The opening act was a local singer named Trevor Davis. He played guitar and sang and was accompanied by a woman playing percussion and singing. The two had some exciting and beautiful harmonies. This guy had a voice very similar to Jeff Buckley, which is high praise. He was excited to see the headliner, who I had never heard of. Turns out, she's one of the former vocalists for Zero 7, a group that I do like.

Onto Tina Dico from Denmark. A wispy woman who looked like a grown doll, she let loose not only a fantastic voice but proved to be a very capable guitarist. She was accompanied by two Icelandic musicians, one a very good drummer, and the other a real talent named Helgi Jonsson, who sang harmony, played keys, and trombone. This guy was first rate. Some of their harmonies were heartbreaking, the arrangements were perfect. The set list was very understated but was elevated into elegance by the warm and pristine execution of the players. What I thought would be a night of brash cacophony turned out to be a night of enchantment. The acoustics in this place were outstanding and you could hear every nuance of each instrument. Plus, though the club has three floors, the maximum capacity is around 300 people, and we were about 20 feet from the stage. The evening felt like we were sitting by a fire overlooking the ocean or could just as easily be overlooking an icy backdrop from a warm Nordic cabin. What a lovely surprise.

I also realized that this was the first proper show that I've seen since La Roux back in July. It was a good one.

The food was ho-hum and, along with the drinks it's expensive. But I would highly recommend anyone looking for live music in San Diego to stop by Anthology.