Miss Tess

I meant to write about this last week, but as usual the procrastination monster got the better of me. But I said I'd write about it, so here we go. I mentioned Miss Tess in an earlier post. She is an absolutely fabulous jazz singer that my friend heard about. When she told me Miss Tess would be performing in our fair city I was so very excited. The concert was free which was an added bonus.

The concert was on a Monday night at an out of the way venue, so I didn't really expect it to be crowded. However, we got there about 45 minutes early just in case. When we walked into the bar, we were a little stunned because there were only about five people there. I thought that a little odd, but figured more would come later.

Well, when Miss Tess and the Bon Ton Parade (her band) took the stage, there might have been 15 people there not counting my group. Not crazy exciting, but the minute Miss Tess started to sing, I was hooked. She has this absolutely flawless voice. I am always impressed when I go see musicians and they sound exactly like they do on a CD. Her songs range from playful to soulful and I was tappin' and swayin' to them all. She has a quirky look with short curly hair and glasses and subtle retro clothing. I liked how she let her music be the focal point rather than tarting it up with flashing makeup and clothes.

In addition to the awesome music, my friends and I also had some interesting characters to watch. Since the place was pretty empty, there was a lot of floor space. People weren't dancing much, but we did have this guy who I'm pretty sure was high on something hopping up and down and fluttering his hands by himself in the middle of the dance floor. There was also this girl who rolled up her shirt and displayed her stomach in indecently low-rider jeans. She even got into a push-up contest with a guy. Yeah, that's how much unused floor space was available.

There was also this older guy sitting at the bar. He apparently got hungry at some point and went out to his car to bring in a bag of unopened chips. As the numbers dwindled down to less than ten, I guess he felt more comfortable speaking up. When Miss Tess said the song they were about to play was a little dark, this guy responded: "That's okay, we like dark songs here in Charleston."

Probably my favorite character was this guy who we think was probably high on some serious drugs who danced around the room by himself, fluttering his hands at his sides. He had some interesting moves to say the least.

Aside from the odd group of people, the Miss Tess concert was wonderful. I recommend going to see her if you can. Check out her website to see her upcoming tour dates and listen to her music.

http://www.misstessmusic.com/