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Nightsong Jazz Trio at Sir Benedict's. Photos by Jill Fisher.

Sir Benedict’s On the Lake is quite the venue for excellent live music. Besides the two evenings of open jams—bluegrass on Wednesdays, Celtic on Thursdays—newly formed groups and individual musicians from both the Twin Ports and out-of-town are to be found playing gigs here routinely.

Of course new groups don’t always mean unknown musicians; rather new combinations serve to enliven our local music scene. Probably the musicians find fresh inspiration as well.  

On Tuesday evening, Nov. 28, a familiar set of players with the name Nightsong Jazz Trio entertained us at Sir Ben’s. Nightsong features Tom O’Hara playing his Gibson ES335 electric guitar and singing vocals on any number of laid-back, good listening songs, many of which we don’t get to hear that often, such as “So Nice.”

Jim Hunter on bass and Ivan Pavlovic on drums round out the trio that was formed about a year ago.

Folks informed me that O’Hara has been a regular performer around these parts for years, decades even, beginning with a high school band (Hard Times) and Search, another early group. Likewise, Hunter has been around the block as a member of the rock and roll band Most Wanted as well as the Lake City Smokin’ Section, and now a very newly formed group, Northern Thunder. (I’ll be checking them out early in 2024!) As for Pavlovic, he is something of a mystery without a presence on Facebook. I did not have a chance to question him closely on this occasion.  

The variety of covers, some as instrumentals, made for a very pleasant two hours of jazz music. “Black Orpheus” by Stan Getz, “Nature Boy” a 1948 recording by Nat King Cole, Van Morrison’s 1970 “Moon Dance” and “Little Walter Rides Again” by Medeski Scofield Martin and Wood give  an idea of the range of tunes this group performs. And beyond these, Nightsong gave us a terrific original rendition of the Bee Gees’ 1967 hit “Love Somebody.”

With O’Hara providing all the vocals this evening, it was refreshing to hear instrumentals interspersed throughout their sets, “Norwegian Wood” being one. There was a cool segue between “L.O.V.E.” (another song recorded by Nat King Cole) and the 1975 release, "I'm Not in Love," by the British group 10cc. The band’s final number was a lovely instrumental, “Englishman In New York.”  

I have to say this is a jazz group I will definitely want to hear again. And speaking of jazz, East Superior Street has evolved into something of a hot spot for jazz what with Landscapes at Rathskeller on Wednesdays, The Maxi Childs Trio at Blackwater Lounge and the Hot Club of Duluth at the Rathskeller on Tuesdays and the occasional group like Nightsong at Sir Ben’s.  

On this Tuesday evening I chose to scoot over to the Rathskeller after Nighsong finished up. I have written about Hot Club of Duluth a couple of times previously but despite my inclination to prioritize hearing musicians new to me, these guys are so good I indulged myself in a return visit and I was not disappointed as they were in fine form. Besides their original composition, “St. Louis County Blues” we heard another original, this time by Eli Bissonett, who plays an exceptional violin. Titled “Eye of the Cougar” it was inspired by an eerie feeling of walking around the Kenwood neighborhood at night when there were cougar sightings reported in the vicinity. Very nice.

Guitarist Darin Bergsven’s crooning of “Mood Indigo” was also wonderful. Veikko Lepisko gave us some groovy licks on his standup bass while Jimi Cooper added his guitar magic. The audience also got to enjoy their version of Django Rinehardt’s Gypsy Jazz number, “Minor Swing.” Although I had meant to duck out to see another group elsewhere that evening, I couldn’t tear myself away. If you haven’t yet checked them out, I advise you to get yourself down to this very special club to hear one of our swingingest local bands.  

Danny Frank and Erin Aldridge

On Thursday, Nov. 30, I decided I needed a second helping of Them Coulee Boys, a band I first heard last August at the Twin Ports Music Festival put on by Earth Rider in Superior (I enthused about them in my August 24 Reader review). Danny Frank and the Smoky Gold opened for the Boys at the West Theater (or West Theatre if you are googling its website). Man, they came on like gang busters with Erin Aldridge ripping into the first number “Rubies” with a violin solo. (I would call it fiddle if she weren’t First Violin and Concertmaster for the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra.) And I do mean “rip” as in shredding, which was clearly evident from the torn hairs of her bow. “Dead and Gone” was next up on their playlist, followed by “Ain’t Easy” on which Danny’s wife Angie contributed some nice harmonizing vocals. A couple songs later she came back to sing on “Where I Belong.”  

Harrison Olk on banjo and Aldridge performed a medley of “Penny’s Bone” and “One More Try,” an awesome instrumental duet. Beau Janke of Them Coulee Boys joined the group with his banjo to perform one of Smoky Gold’s darker numbers, “Butcher’s Son,” the lyrics, melody and driving sound of which are captivating. Smokin’ Joe Scarpellino provided the sexy funky bass underlying most of the songs along with bass vocals in their final acappella number, “Savannah.” If there was any one thing that put Smoky Gold’s performance over the top it was this song with its terrific, close four-part harmony that ventured into barbershop quartet territory. The crowd cheered and hooted its appreciation for its heart-stopping brilliance. I joined in!  

Danny Frank & The Smoky Gold

Smoky Gold set a very high bar for the headliners’ performance, which Them Coulee Boys pretty much aced. My guess is that the interaction of the band members created a synergy that was amply expressed in this stellar music event. The Boys have a strong following as evidenced by the mosh pit comprised of younger audience members from the very first song. This crowd only grew as the concert proceeded. Such was the quality of their performance that I sprung for a CD of the band’s latest album, Namesake (also recorded on vinyl). I will be interested to hear whether it evokes the same energy as the concert but in any case it should provide some good listening until they return to Duluth. 

Them Coulee Boys (sans drummer)

UPCOMING: Since I will be traveling next week here are a couple gigs I would have liked to check out and maybe you might too: Ramblin’ Lou Carver at Sir Ben’s on Thursday, Dec. 7 looks to be interesting as does the Dave Simonett, Lanue, and Ross Thorn gig the same night at Zeitgeist Arts. On Saturday afternoon, Dec. 9, the annual Bill Bastian & the Highland String Quartet Christmas Concert will be performing at the United Protestant Church in Morgan Park. I saw it last year and it was just the thing to put one in the holiday spirit.   And, if you need more music to prepare you for the upcoming holidays, the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas show scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 14, in Symphony Hall at the DECC should do it. I’ve listened to a Christmas album by this group for years (on cassette tape!) so I broke down and bought a pricey ticket for the concert. A less expensive option would be to purchase one of MS’s Christmas albums, either CD or vinyl, and enjoy their holiday cheer that way. Listening to it could become a holiday ritual, as it has for me.