On a pleasant Sunday evening, April 15 th, 2007, Ted Alexander had another of his intimate jazz sessions in his basement in front of a full house of about 30 people, all former students or otherwise jazz lovers.

Ron Bland played bass, Mitch Chmara guitar, and Ted, seated behind the piano, led the group.

As the probability of this every being reported anywhere else on the Internet is as close to zero as it's possible to get, and since I was lucky to have an invitation from Ted (the only way into the gathering), I have taken it upon myself to critique the evening.

At 7:00 p.m., after a brief introduction of the members of his group, Ted sat down and began the evening with the Nat King Cole favorite, Nature Boy, written by Eden Ahbez. The chord structure of this song is fantastic, especially when performed by Ted.

This was followed by How High The Moon, a Nancy Hamilton and Morgan Lewis favorite especially when it was played by Les Paul and Mary Ford.

The third selection was Waltz For Debbie, written by perhaps the greatest jazz pianist of the 20 th century who died way too soon, Bill Evans, and was Bill's favorite among all his compositions.

Ted's fourth selection was Poor Butterfly which was loaded with lush chords. The first half of the set finished with the Harold Arlen tune Out Of This World that could have been lifted straight out of a film noir of the forties. This is one song I'd like to hear again and one of the few songs written in 65 measures.

Starting the second set was guest artist Dr. Bill Morse, who has been Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra since 1999. He is also the music director and conductor of the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra, and had studied with Ted for eight years. Bill began with Antonio Carlos Jobim's Wave with Mitch doing a fantastic guitar solo in the middle of the song. Bill finished with an unusual arrangement of Cole Porter's Easy to Love.

Ted sat back down at the keyboard playing another Porter song, Just One Of Those Things followed by the great Herbie Hancock song, Dolphin Dance.

Ted presumably ended the evening with Spring Can Hang You Up The Most by Tom Harrell. After a short standing ovation, Ted said he was really into the evening and so finished things off with a bright rendition of Blues in B Flat.

Ted's very close to 91 and is at the top of the jazz game, not just in Denver where he's lived over 50 years, but in the world. Substituting an F7th for a Cm or progressing from Gm to F# diminished, I have to keep fighting not to listen to the melody but to the intricate and detailed chords flowing just below the surface, and the split octaves and minor 13 th weaving through Cole Porter and George Gershwin, who wasn't represented this session but will be next time. After all, by then it will be Summertime. [Any errors in the above is strictly due to the fault of the poster.]