Nights of music

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I have had the pleasure of experiencing some wonderful music while staying here in San Francisco. My first night in the city, Hannah took me to a jazz piano concert-a friend of her's who was recently recruited to study at the Thelonious Monk Institute in LA. The concert took place in a beautiful hall that the family rented-with creaky wooden floors and warmly glowing light sconces dipping down from the high ceilings. Hannah, and a group of her friends and I enjoyed cups of red wine as we sat above and watched the show from the balcony. We had a great birds-eye view of the stage. The performer told us after his second piece-that he did not have a set list prepared for the concert,and that most of his songs at his solo concert would be improvised. I watched him as he began each piece, straightening his posture and placing his hands delicately on the keys, then as if the keys told him what to do- his long fingers would start to play and soon they were dancing up and down and all over the keys. The music made us hold our breath, gasp, laugh and tear up. At the end, we were held in a musical trance...unable to speak about the feelings that the music had given to us. Tipsy from the wine, giggles leaked out of our smiling mouths as we descended from the balcony and exited into the cool San Francisco night