Tammy Hall, Paula West, and the band Photo by Barry Willis

A few months ago I had the pleasure of attending a performance by jazz/pop singer Freda Payne, in a venue I had never before visited: the Showcase Theatre at the Marin Civic Center, one of the last buildings designed by the great architect Frank Lloyd Wright. As the producers promised at that show, more events from Marin Jazz would be coming. True to their word, they have booked a series of shows that will fill the acoustically excellent Showcase Theatre with a wide variety of jazz styles. Upcoming shows include a reconstituted Supremes (minus Diana, of course), Zakiya Hooker (daughter of famed blues guitarist John Lee Hooker), Harold Jones and the Bossman Big Band Orchestra, Carlos Reyes, and several others.

If those shows are anything like the Tribute to Duke Ellington that graced the stage a few evenings ago, you can expect great music in a relatively intimate space with great sound–and easy parking!

The show was built around three of the Bay Area's top talents: the amazing Paula West, Kim Nalley, and music director/pianist extraordinaire Tammy Hall. Backing them were a pair of brilliant horn players–Kristin Strom on sax and Mike Olmos on trumpet–plus a very solid rhythm section–Ron Belcher on bass and Deszon Claiborne on drums.

Though the staging was simple–just the instruments, monitors and mics, with a scrim backdrop that occasionally changed colors–the focus was on the music. With the amazing Duke Ellington as the composer of every tune, the music was top-notch indeed, as were the performers. Paula West is one of my favorite local vocalists (her shows at Feinstein's at the Nikko are not to be missed), and she didn't disappoint.

Kim Nalley started the evening with "Creole Love Call" and "I Ain't Got Nothing But the Blues," and a couple of other numbers before Paula West joined her for "Come Sunday" and a medley of some of Ellington's best, closing with his signature song "Take the A Train" (music and lyrics by Billy Strayhorn). After a brief intermission, the band performed "In a Sentimental Mood" before Paula West returned to the stage to launch into a lovely rendition of "I'm Just a Lucky So-and-So." The evening closed with a swinging (appropriately) "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)."

Throughout the evening the vocalists were terrific: soulful, joyous, yearning, and filling the Showcase Theatre with wondrous sounds. But I was perhaps even more impressed by the quintet led by Tammy Hall. Hall kept the band tight and in time all evening, with the help of the solid rhythm section. Belcher's bass lines were thick and harmonic, and Claiborne's drumming was packed with interesting fills and a solid beat. Olmos delivered clear, bright, brassy blasts on his trumpet, and Strom's tone on her sax put me in mind of John Coltrane, feeling both powerful and delicate.

Tribute to Duke Ellington was sadly a one-night event, but if you're a music lover, you owe it to yourself to get to the Showcase Theatre for any (or all) of the upcoming productions from Marin Jazz. For tickets and information, please visit www.MarinJazz.com.