Singer/pianist delivers with his own style

Anthony Owens brings to his music all the good things from all the styles of blues, jazz and popular music.

The gifted singer and piano player holds forth in Halls Chophouse every evening except Thursdays and Sundays, singing and swinging his way through his huge book of tunes.

His sound reminds me of a kind of New Orleans thing, rollicking but easygoing, simple but highly syncopated.

Laissez les bon temps roulez. Let the good times roll.

They do at Halls.

Anthony, a seasoned veteran, knows how to get the party going with his sounds. He has played for years at many local venues.

What's different at Halls, though, is that the entire ambience of the gourmet steakhouse, complete with an upscale lounge, is built around his playing. It's not a concert hall and it's not a nightclub, but Anthony's playing commands attention.

The times I've been in the King Street establishment, I've run into people who not only came primarily to

hear Anthony, they arrived early enough to get seats at the few tables near the bandstand.

Anthony cuts a classic jazz figure.

He is sartorially resplendent. While his music is hot and emotional, his presence is one of cool and complete command.

He sits at the shiny, black piano in the front window of the joint belting out sound from the instrument, which is programmed to play rhythm tracks while he strikes the keys.

Think Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Nat "King" Cole.

His demeanor is like that of the late Otis Redding's: stoic but swinging. He doesn't move or gesticulate much, but there's a ton of punch packed into his delivery. Anthony plays from Redding's book, too.

The room has a busy bar scene so the noise level can rise, but Anthony deals with it. He plays and sings so well, you can't help but notice him.

His sunny personality shines through his music. And he can play anything. He knows a lot of tunes and he plays them with all the verve he can muster. His joy is infectious.

So, stop by 434 King St. and join the fun.

For more information, call 727-0090 or go to hallschophouse.com.

CJO and strings

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about the May 22 Charleston Jazz Orchestra concert at the Charleston Music Hall, sharing with you that the 20-piece jazz big band will add an eight-piece string section for this show.

It will accompany the band on a segment of the program that features Oscar Rivers on alto saxophone and pianist Tommy Gill's highly anticipated arrangement and orchestration of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue."

The string section comprises violinists Alan Molina, Tiffany Rice, Ashley Tillilie and Robbi Kenney; violists Jill King and Sarah Fitzgerald; and cellists Norbert Lewandowski and Damian Kremer.

Call 641-0011 or visit thejac.org.

Jazzy poetry

Post and Courier editor Bill Thompson just gave me a book to review and it looks real promising. It is "The Blue Moment: Miles Davis's Kind of Blue and the Remaking of Modern Music" written by Richard Williams and published by Norton last month.

It's the story of the creation of Miles' famous studio record album, "Kind of Blue." More than that, however, the book attempts to explain the appeal of the disc with regard to the postmodern era from which it emerged.

I haven't finished reading it yet, but the introduction hints at Williams' desire to make use of other cultural markers from the 20th century. It looks very intriguing and I wanted to give you a heads-up.

At the front of the book, Williams runs an excerpt from a poem Wallace Stevens (1879-1955), an American writer who was a renowned modernist.

It reads:

The man bent over his guitar,

A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.

They said, "You have a blue guitar,

You do not play things as they are."

The man replied, "Things as they are

Are changed upon the blue guitar."

And they said then, "But play, you must,

A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,

A tune upon the blue guitar

Of things exactly as they are."

Awesome, I think.

And it captures the spirit of the blues aesthetic one finds in "Kind of Blue."

It was just about 50 years ago that what many call the most popular jazz album of all time came to be.

According to Williams, Western civilization hasn't been the same since Miles, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Julian "Cannonball" Adderly and John Coltrane set foot into that studio in New York City to create this seminal piece of art.

Jack McCray, author of "Charleston Jazz," can be reached at jackjmccray@aol.com.