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player ready...The price is right for a night of live jazz on March 1 at Hey Nonny in Arlington Heights. The evening’s entertainment, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., will be a “Free Mardi Gras Show! With Bruce Blanck & Friends.” The event is sponsored by the First Presbyterian Church in Arlington Heights, which Blanck attends.
Pianist Blanck will be joined by Gordon Johnson (bass), Dick Daugherty (Reeds: sax, clarinet, and flute), Scott Parvin (drums), and Doug Schuler (trumpet).
“We’re itinerant musicians that have known each other for a long time,” Blanck said. “All of us can walk in and play with other musicians whether we’ve played with them before or not. Improvisation is a natural for the musicians that I try to work with. We call a tune, call a key, and play it.”
So even though Blanck can provide a trio, quartet, or quintet for events, it isn’t necessarily the same people, which surprises many audience members.
“When we play a gig, I’ve had people come up and say, ‘You guys sound great. How long have you been together?'” Blanck related. “I’ll look at my watch and say, ‘Well it’s been about 45 minutes.'”
Blanck performs for many private parties, special events, and church events. He also performs every summer at a resort in Door County with his quartet.
The Hey Nonny audience will be treated to a large repertoire of music. Blanck estimates that he knows hundreds of songs. “Chances are if I’ve heard it, I can play it,” he said.
The musicians play what they call “straight ahead jazz,” Blanck reported. “Typically we’ll take standards and do some things with it, being a little bit creative.”
The group will be playing numbers by Duke Ellington and songs associated with Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, among others. “We’ll even play some hymns,” Blanck said. “I play for church jazz services. We’ll take a standard hymn like, ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘Just a Closer Walk with Thee’ and do a jazz improvisation on that song. It will be recognizable but with a lot of variations.”
The group will also take requests. “Typically when we play we get a lot of requests and most of the time we can do it,” he said.
Blanck said that his church wanted to sponsor a Shrove Tuesday performance by his jazz group and felt that Hey Nonny would be a better location than the church. It helped that the pianist already had a relationship with the Arlington Heights club from having performed there with his group for four jazz brunches.
Blanck enjoys performing at Hey Nonny because “their staging is fantastic,” he said. “They have a very nice grand piano that I really enjoy using. The sound people do a good job of making the production go smoothly. So Hey Nonny has become a fixture for entertainment in the suburbs and we’re fortunate to be able to set up this thing with a collaboration of our church and Hey Nonny to present this Shrove Tuesday thing.”
You don’t need to make reservations to listen to the music but you do have to make reservations if you are planning to dine there. Word has it that Chef Tony will follow the theme, with gumbo and shrimp po’ boy specials. So if you’re a fan of New Orleans cuisine or want to try something from the regular menu, it’s a good idea to reserve a table.
‘Free Mardi Gras Show! With Bruce Blanck & Friends’
When: 6:30-9:30 p.m. March 1
Where: Hey Nonny, 10 S. Vail Ave., Arlington Heights
Tickets: Free admission
Information: 224-202-0750; heynonny.com
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Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.