Raul Midón kicked off the Madison Jazz Festival. Nothing better to make me feel welcome in town than a local Jazz Fest!
Raul is a virtuoso guitar player, and he generates a lot of sound for one guy: strumming, slapping, fingerpicking and more. At one point, Raul played his bongos with one hand, his guitar with the other hand, and imitated a trumpet thru pursed lips. He’s also a wonderful songwriter and vocalist. His one man show held the audience entranced for two sets.
Mitch Nathan, a research colleague and professor in Madison, met me at Cafe Coda. And I met his dog-loving partner Kelly. They introduced me to the Willy St scene. Its a 20 minute walk from our apartment. Across the street is the Willy St Coop grocery store, a local institution.
Cafe Coda occupies a storefront-wide space with a bar upfront and about a dozen rows of chairs at the back, facing the stage. Great jazz art adorned the walls. Back home in San Francisco, there’s a Church of John Coltraine, complete with icons of the saint. So I had to snap a photo of this large icon-like painting of Coltraine, which was hanging centrally above the bar.
Details
| Location: | Cafe Coda, Madison, Wisconsin |
| Date: | June 8, 2024 |
| Attending: | Jeremy with Mitch & Kelly |