Could have been better
by Portsmouth Jimmy on 2/3/24Jimmy's Jazz and Blues Club - PortsmouthMy recent attendance of “On A Winter’s Night” at Jimmy’s Jazz Club in Portsmouth fell short of my expectations. The 4 performers - Patty Larkin, Lucy Kaplansky, Cliff Eberhardt, and John Gorka - were all good (especially liked Gorka and Kaplansky). However, after they each performed 2 of their songs they then brought all 4 onto the stage to purportedly play together. However, “playing together” ended up being them each playing more of their own songs while the others just sat, sang or strummed along a little, or simply tapped the tops of their guitars. In Gorka’s introduction to the show he made it sound like they were going to play songs they had practiced together, but this was clearly not the case. Since this was the 16th show (out of 24) they had played together, it wasn’t that they were getting used to each other. This was the show! In my opinion, it would have been a much better show if they had each performed 4 songs and then played one song together at the end that they had practiced. So not a bad show but not one I would recommend to others. While it’s a chance to see 4 great performers together in one room, you would be better off picking 1 or 2 of them and seeing individual shows when they go back to performing alone in the future.