A jazzy afternoon with friends.

Today was the occasion for an intimate gathering at the lovely Westport, Kentucky riverside home of my friends Burkhard and Kay Masuhr.

Through their company, Masuhr International Marketing (MIM), Burkhard and Kay dip their toes into a variety of interesting events and concepts, and during the past weekend, they were kept busy introducing virtuoso jazz bassist and composer Morrie Louden to Louisville.

Along with his regular pianist Mike Eckroth, and supported by sax and drums, Morrie performed on Friday night at the Chapman Friedman Gallery in downtown Louisville.

New Albanian Brewing Company helped sponsor the event and provided the beer (Community Dark), and I worked the cold plate alongside the wine dispensing station manned by Barry and Leslie, the good people from River Bend Winery, which operates on 10th Street, between Main and Market, in the shadow of the 9th Street interstate ramp.

It was a good crowd of perhaps one hundred people on Saturday, and excellent jazz all evening long.

This afternoon, Morrie and Mike played in the Masuhr living room for a small group of friends and patrons, while Burkhard grilled genuine Nurnberger sausages and Kay directed the festivities.

It’s truly remarkable to watch a musician like Morrie up close and personal, and then enjoy the added bonus of having a craft-brewed beer with him afterwards, and Diana and I are grateful to Burkhard for the opportunity to participate.

We returned home around eight p.m., and discovered the alley behind our house filled with neighbors impatiently awaiting the arrival of the police, who’d been called to do something about a noisy domestic dispute in an historically bad rental property that faces Elm Street.

A beating with a broomstick in broad daylight, suspects fleeing, crazed occupant screaming obscenities, probable drug use … in every respect, a grudging return to the real world following an idyllic afternoon of musical fermentation and stress relief.