Was at Warsaw Sała Kongresowa to see Randy Crawford last night. The last time I was here was about 5-6 years ago to see PJ Harvey, while I've also seen Yes; Kraftwerk; Tracy Chapman and the Gotan Project here over the years.
As can be seen in the picture above, the Sała Kongresowa is a gorgeous, Classical-type building. However, the place can be a touch pompous, for example, last night, I was ordered to leave my light jacket in a cloakroom before I could enter the theatre.
Anyway, Randy Crawford (just about visible on the right below) was fantastic doing her most famous tunes: 'Rainy Night in Georgia'; 'One Day I'll Fly Away'; 'Street Life'; and 'Almaz'. However, as 'Almaz' was the first encore, I had to sacrifice half of it so that I could retrieve my coat (just didn't fancy battling it out with 2,500+ others after the show).
Besides the more famous tunes, I was happy to see that I recognised quite a few of the more Jazzy songs from the 2011 'Leverkusener' concert video:
As for the Joe Sample trio, well, in the absence of Joe himself, I've got to say that son Niklas Sample is one hell of a bassist, while both the drummer and pianist are also top notch:
Another word about the Sała Kongresowa and it's not a bad one: the sound is really good there (still find the ambience of the place difficult to like, though)
Also really like the incredible alcoves and ceiling at the Kongresowa:
And the last word about Randy Crawford? Well, she's got such a beautifully soft and yet measured, and, in its own way, powerful voice, and she makes it all look so effortless. Thus, she has a great God-given talent.
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