Message: | I gotta weigh in with the majority on this one.
Yeah, there was a time when major cities supported several venues for jazz players of national caliber; but Los Angeles has been hard-pressed to support more than one-and-a-half at a time for about 20 yrs. Right now, we have two; Catalina, which has a liquor license and a dinner menu, and Jazz bakery, which has neither.
Food's better at catalina than at the old Lighthouse, and than it was at Hop Singh's, too. (Anyone EVER eat at the Parisian Room? Did they have food?)
I cannot imagine that anyone was required to sit in absolute silence there (I've been several times), or
that anyone owuld have said anything unless your conversational level was bugging someone (including the musicians). I also know people who've played there, and the flip side of the really good room acoustics is that the band can hear you, as well as you can hear them. So, if someone's playing softly, and you're maintaining a conversation at a stage-side seat, it's really annoying, and rude, too.
So, you wanna eat wonderful food, go to Pinot. However, don't expect to sit six feet from Chick Corea while he's playing on a freshly tuned Steinway, if you go there...
RFGS |