Burke.Word

Dictionaries dryly define musical “swing” as playing with an intuitive sense of rhythm.  A better way to understand what swing really means is to paraphrase the Supreme Court’s  very ‘precise’ definition of pornography, and just concede that with swing – you’ll know it when you hear it.

If you were at Blues Alley Monday night, you would have known that the Burke Bands were swingin’!  A second home to headline musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Gil Scott Heron, and Ahmad Jamal, Blues Alley doesn’t book you if you don’t swing.

It was as cold and rainy as an Edward Hopper painting, waiting outside in the alleyway for the show to start.  But inside, it was caliente.  Burke played into the wee hours.  As usual, the bands played the unusual, covering a Potomac waterfront of musical styles, including latin, jazz, blues, alt folk Americana, Zappa – and even a touch of Bach.

It was a fitting farewell show for seniors, Adam J., Simon C., Austin P, Thomas D., Jesse H., Julius B., and Peter V. (in absentia).  And the show closed with an old Band chestnut, Sultans of Swing, complete with a couple of tasteful guitar homages to Mark Knopfler by Joe B.

But, don’t fret if you missed this amazing show.  You still have a chance to  catch their encore performance at the Band Showcase on May 26.  Don’t miss it!!  Tons more photos at BurkePix.

At Last

Oye

Felice Bros