Jazz at Neil’s: An evening of raw magic and pure joy

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On Sunday night, June 13, 2021, StoryBoard Memphis and Strictly Jazz Entertainment hosted a very special event at Neil’s Music Room. StoryBoard creator Mark Fleischer posted this message to the patrons of the event:

Hello friends and jazz lovers,

Thank you for joining us for this past Sunday evening’s very special live performance at Neil’s Music Room. During the evening’s introductions, I overheard one of you say, “We’re here for history.”

I couldn’t agree more – and we put together a sneak-peek behind the scenes preview below. Coming out of our pandemic fog, it was a thrill to see Bryant Lockhart‘s singin’ sax leading the quartet of Alvie Givhan on piano, Sylvester Sample on bass and Cedric Keel on drums groovin’ and strummin’ to over a dozen of John Coltrane’s standards. And, to capture it live for the cameras and on a crystal-clear hi definition recording . . . out of this world!

Thank you for joining us in the magic of jazz, at the one and only Neil’s Music Room, for the historic event. We will keep you posted as when you can see our footage, and where, when StoryBoard Memphis comes to streaming TV on the Memphis Centric channel, on Roku and Amazon. 

Special thanks again to Dennis Adams for Strictly Jazz Entertainment, Octavia Young for Memphis Centric, Richard Butler on sound at Neil’s, David Merrill for StoryBoard, and of course Neil Heins for Neil’s Music Room.

~Mark Fleischer

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Mark Fleischer is the founder and executive director of StoryBoard Memphis. The Orpheum’s Forgotten History was originally published as a front-page feature in StoryBoard’s former print edition in November of 2018. This summer-long online series expands from the confines of print and features more in-depth stories and analysis, never-before published interviews and stories, and recorded interviews from the participants who brought the vintage palace back to life.