Josh Halper’s Bossa Nova Band
The Blue Room
Nashville
Jan. 4, 2024
I had a headache and noticed a smell of burnt rubber. I discovered I had been driving around on a flat tire. I was somewhat regretting my decision to go out.
As I stepped into the pink and blue neon glow of the Blue Room, that feeling melted away, and the joy of Josh Halper’s Bossa Nova Band took its place.
Thursday nights at The Blue Room are frequently “Free Night,” when bands take the stage for a combination of a show and background music. The space transforms from less of a venue to more of a bar, though audiences are more attentive than they would be at a typical bar gig. Chairs, lamps, and rugs replace about half of the standing room and the atmosphere is simultaneously lively and cozy. As the name implies, there’s no cost for admission and the whole event is generally more casual than a straightforward show. On this particular Thursday, Josh Halper led his Bossa Nova Band, which consisted of bass (Trevor Nikrant), drums (John Minyard), saxophone (Ben Johnson), vibraphone (Parker James), and Halper leading on electric guitar.
One would think that The Blue Room’s quasi-social setting wouldn’t lend itself to listening very well, but the background noise of low chatter didn’t take away from the music at all. It maybe even added to the buzzing, playful energy the band brought to the stage.
“A round of applause for Hal Leonard,” Halper joked, a reference to the band’s heavy use of The Real Book. The tune selection was mostly bossa standards along with several original compositions by members of the band. Halper invited a handful of guest vocalists up on stage to round out the sound.
I don’t have a very deep knowledge of jazz and its various offshoots, but the high level of musicality among the players would have been blatant to anyone as they explored the sound of bossa nova, which exploded out of Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s and took over the world. I’m mostly familiar with Halper’s playing through his work with various Americana songwriters around town, including Tommy (son of John) Prine and Lily (daughter of John) Hiatt, and he was just as tasteful and light on his feet in his Bossa Nova band as he is in any other setting. Both on Thursday at The Blue Room and in the past, I’ve always experienced Halper’s playing as delightfully weaving, almost dancing, through whatever else is going on musically in a way that enhances the texture of the bigger picture and doesn’t distract. Parker James’s vibraphone playing was also particularly stunning, with an enchanting display of rhythmic sensibility.
The energy of the whole ensemble was conversational in character and execution, with a lightness and sense of community among the band members that can be hard to come by in Nashville, where everyone is very capital-S-serious about music. Between the high volume of laughter on stage, musical jokes being tossed around, and each soloist’s break picking up where the predecessor left off, they were playing off of each other and having a good time.
This thread carried off the stage as well. I saw about four people I knew before I had even walked in the door and encountered a handful of others over the course of the night. The Blue Room felt like a community watering hole on Thursday evening, which has the potential to feel overwhelming. But much like the music, it came with a lfamiliarity and lack of pretension. Josh Halper’s Bossa Nova Band and the environment created at The Blue Room provided a breath of fresh air to start the new year.
