Sometime back I told a story in this column about a most amazing musical experience. The musician that sparked it was jazz pianist Joe Cartwright. He was accompanied not only by the usual accoutrements of bass and drums but also by a fantastic thunder and lightning storm that danced and menaced outside the big picture window of the Phoenix Jazz Club. The rapidity of the lightning resembled a strobe light...except it was powered by God. As lightning charged the air and the wind-blown rain served as his canvas, Joe and his trio painted a picture of lone musicians on a mounbtain shouting that they are not afraid of, but were in fact part of, the tempest. It was chilling to witness.

We always expect musicians to live up to our greatest expectations, our greatest memories. But how can they? Great music is driven by excitement. Even the world’s foremost concert performers of all stripes burn out and occasionally deliver tepid performances. Isn’t every performer who must play each night for his supper always vulnerable to becoming calloused and blase? Even more to the point, what if the entire audience is actually eating their supper, talking with friends, or closing deals...as a performer tries to find some nuance to please and excite those who are not really listening?

Joe is just one among a legion of musicians who routinely perform in these circumstances. For the listener, it is not an unpleasant atmosphere.. even for to the most obtuse of us...as we munch and talk. However, it must dull the senses of the artist. And yet...if you will find time to put the fork down, discourage verbal intercourse at your table, and just listen, you will be amazed at what Joe Cartwright can do with a piano, with a song, with your soul. Cartwright might be playing along in a perfectly normal manner when suddenly he tickles the high keys and pounds bumblebee music on the low keys, as he massages and strokes and repeats his tastefully chosen riffs, with increasing intensity, until it all spills over into a delightful ebb tide. The Majestic Steak House is in a wonderful old building on 10th and Broadway. Wind your way downstairs into the whitewashed rock walled jazz cellar at 6:30 or so on Tuesday or Wednesday night, and not only can you get a great steak, you will be bathed in the music of Joe Cartwright and bassist Gerald Spaits. It is positively wonderful background music and sets up that ambience we always see in the movies, but never seem to find in our real world experience. Go ahead. Talk, eat, laugh and relax, but do yourself a favor. Carve out time to listen with all you have. If you do, you will hear a man who plays with authority, enunciation, drama, and even humor. His music is sophisticated, but accessible. It is romantic, tender, and comfortably familiar with just enough surprises, and you don't have to stay up till 4:00 am to have it all.If you are a weekend person, why not find your way to the Fairmont Hotel? Joe and sax master Kim Park form a duo on Thursday; and on Friday and Saturday Joe and Kim bring back the smooth bass of Gerald Spaits and add the drums of Ray Demarchi, creating a very tight quartet.

Joe has been an official musical Ambassador for our State Department and has delivered his Kansas City jazz and blues piano to Spain, France, Israel, the West Bank, and seveal African countries including Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, and South Africa. The peoples of India, Thailand, and Malaysia have also tasted the repertoire of Joe Cartwright. Have you? You really should, Joe is not just a tempest in a teapot.