Philly - Day 2 - Ortlieb's

Saturday night Jack takes us to Ortlieb's Jazzhaus. The club is on a tiny street and as you approach it appears to be under construction. It is a long narrow room with the bar on one end, the restaurant on the other and the band in the middle with just enough room for one table and an aisle between the band and the opposite wall. The ambiance and the characters that frequent this club are half the show. The other half is the incredible house band.

Bootsie Barnes on tenor sax leads this Philly hard bop band. He is authentic and alive.

With him that night was Duane Eubanks (brother to Robyn and Kevin) on trumpet, hot and cool.

Sid Simmons played heroically on the Otlieb's notoriously bad piano and made it sound great. I wish I had a picture of the worn fall board (thank you Judy).

Ortlieb's owner, retired systems programmer Pete Souders, normally sits in for a few tunes early in the evening but blew baritone sax all night, stopping only to fix the toilet in the women's bathroom.

The seating arrangement is frustrating but this is pristine bebop as it was and still is in Philly.