Obladee Wine Bar Concert Report

The Obladee wine bar is a small venue on Barrington street that can accommodate roughly 80 patrons before seating runs out, with very little standing room. It is a dimly lit bar with four staff working for the evening, two bartenders and two servers working opposite ends of the short narrow venue. There are a few decorative plants and candles scattered throughout. I Sat opposite of the musicians by the door, behind me there was a mural of a trumpeter sitting on the ground playing with his back rested against the wall by ‘Nathan Goone 2014’. The four musicians were crammed together on a seven by four-foot mat, playing directly in each other’s faces. The position of the musicians seemed convenient as it had them roughly in the center of the …show more content…
The Quartet band was situated with drums in back center, bass in back right, keys in back left, and trumpet had the front section to himself to pace as he played. My server told me that Willem Paynter has a contract with the owner to provide live jazz every second Wednesday. The server also mentioned that the group that Willem brings is normally different every week as there is not a set band. So, Willem Paynter is the band leader but doesn’t have a consistent group, allowing for each performance to be unique and special. The venue advertised the evenings event with Will Fisher as the special guest drummer from Toronto. The band did not make any introductions until after their second song, allowing themselves to introduce themselves with their musical talent and to get everyone’s attention first. I didn’t find out if the venue provides free food and drinks to the band, but it was clear that all the band was constantly drinking. Each band member was drinking prior to their first song and some like James Ervin were even drinking during songs. Overall the group didn’t appear to be overly organized and would have short chats about what to do next, normally with one leading and the rest following along. I could even hear them responding to each other’s suggestions “yeah sure, let’s do it”. This showed that there was no set schedule for what …show more content…
The double bass had a traditional look to it, yet it had an audio jack. Willem played the double bass by plucking with his fingers rather than playing with a bow, which is to be expected of a jazz double bassist. The double bass was very quiet, soft, and in the audible background compared to the other instruments. Willem Paynter appears to be an all-around musician with his twitter (@willempaynter) showcasing his talents at multiple string instruments and keys. He also lists himself as playing many genres of jazz including hardbop, bebop, blues, Latin and soul jazz (Willem, 2017). As he plays Willem puts his weight on his right foot and taps his left foot to the tempo, but when he is not playing he taps out the tempo with his right foot. He also Snaps with his right hand to start a new song, to get everyone on the same