New Oyster House memories

I celebrated my birthday on Sunday with a few of my friends at the Oyster House in Studio City.  My friend Dave Welch took some amazing photos that night. In addition to being an incredibly talented trumpet and flugelhorn player, he also happens to be a professional photographer. I highly recommend him!! A great time was had by all, as you can see by the photos....

Laura Pursell (that's me!)

Everyone enjoyed the classy, velvety vocals of George Brittenham

Lawrence Juber surprised us all by dropping in! Here is, sitting in with Doug MacDonald

One of my favorite bass players and a dear friend - Adam Cohen

Carl Tassi sitting in on drums...how cool is this cat??

Here I am singing "The Song is You"

The band

Tony Russell singing "Do You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans" - Tony is always a crowd favorite!

Singing with Dori Amarillio - a fantastic player. I was so glad he dropped by. I will be doing more with Dori!

Doug MacDonald - it just doesn't get any better!

Another great shot of George Brittenham

Fabulous drummer and dear friend Frank Wilson, who subbed out his regular gig to share this night with me. Love you, Frank!

The incomparable Dori

Doing my thing with the band

Lawrence Juber - I wish he could have stayed longer, but he had a session early the next morning. Can you believe all this talent??

Jazz great Ron Anthony...an old friend who taught me half the songs I sing

Photos by Dave Welch
www.photoswithclass.com

Stoney Point

"Food so good, they built a bridge to us..."

I went to a really great off-the-beaten-path restaurant on Friday, a place called Stoney Point, in Old Town Pasadena. There was a lovely lady named Wendy Ryan playing piano, and she invited me up to sing. (I have a couple of weddings coming up, anyway...I figured I could use the practice!) There was no sound system, but the room was very small and the acoustics weren't bad. I started off with "Skylark", then as I started Cole Porter's "Just in Time", a wonderful trumpet player named Dave Welch walked up and started playing with us. He was wonderful! Wendy and Dave must play together quite a bit - they blended beautifully. And I think Wendy knows every tune in the American Songbook. I have some pretty far-out keys, and she managed to play in every one of them.
Anyway, 2 songs quickly turned into 2 sets. I never got to finish my dinner. But it was a really fun night.
There seem to be a group of regulars who go here often, and I highly recommend it. The food (what I was able to finish) was really great, and I definitely plan on returning.