Hammond, IN – Horseshoe Casino

Horseshoe Casino – Hammond, IN – 2/13/15

This was a wonderful return for me to a seldomly-visited city with a good size audience. The first time was seven years ago with Take Six. This time, the promoter, Al Kennedy, partnered had me partnered with Jeffrey Osborne and Angela Winbush.

Hammond is situated in the Northwest corner of Indiana and feels like an extension of the south side of Chicago. I’m sure lots of our audience drove in from Chicago.

I was delighted all evening long with bursts of applause and shouts of recognition as we went through our program of “Jarreau” songs. As I think about it now it could be because seven years is a long time ago and that might be quite long for someone who wants to hear “Black and Blues” or “We’re in this Love Together” played live and in front of them. And so it was this evening with Jeffrey Osborne joining me on a version of “My Old Friend” which he also sang with me on my new George Duke tribute album.

It was great to have Rick O’Dell, a local and popular smooth jazz radio DJ, be the Emcee and begin the whole evening with what felt like a real friendly fireside chat. It’s kind of reassuring. It was great to see the audience respond to him sounding like an old friend rather than a peppy, quirky, comical 9am drive time DJ. He is simple and cool.

By the time we closed with “Roof Garden/Reach for It,” it was clear that we had satisfied a lot of people. So thank you, Al Kennedy.   And, you guys who keep coming back to hear heartfelt, uplifting, joyous music, please Don’t stop!

Love,

Al