After our gig at the City Stages festival in Birmingham, we woke up early and loaded up the van and headed out. We were going to Charlotte, six hours to see Jean Luc. Jean Luc Ponty that is.. Each of us had known about Jean Luc Ponty, the great jazz violinist before, but a few months ago Jenn rented a DVD from netflix call "The Rite of Strings". The DVD features Jean Luc Ponty, Al Di Meola (guitar) and Stanley Clarke (bass). The music is a fantastic blend of jazz with classical and world elements. It is both intoxicating and addictive.. We probably watched the video fifty times before we sent it back to Netflix. (Then we bought a copy of our own.) We had been watching Jean Luc's tour schedule for several months and were excited to see the Charlotte date added on a few weeks before his tour. The date was in a small club called the Jazz Cafe. I called as soon as tickets were on sale and we were able to get seats in a front table right in front of the stage!! I don't think either of us had been this stoked to see a concert in years.

As we walked up to the venue we saw Jean Luc and some of the other band members outside the tour bus signing autographs and talking with some fans. Jenn was able to chat with Jean Luc a bit and get his autograph on a music book. We headed in to get set for the show. The band put in a fantastic set. It was a bit surreal being this close to such legendary violinist. All of the musicians were fantastic..bass, keys drums and percussion. The music wove together seamlessly and seemed to be effortless. The set ended with a drum & percussion solo. After that the band performed an encore with, "New Country", one of Jean Luc's hits and one of our favorite tracks!! Wow! What a great evening and one we won't soon forget.