Blue Heron

We often celebrate by going out to dinner our last night on an island, and we followed our tradition in Bequia. We�'d heard via the cruiser�'s net that a Jazz/Blues pianist was playing at a restaurant called the Fig Tree on Friday night. Although the restaurant wasn�'t reviewed in our guidebook, we thought we�'d give it a try, given the live music. We arrived right around 7PM, as the Jazz pianist was getting ready to begin playing. As he began, it was clear that this guy was a very accomplished jazz pianist. He was so good, that another patron at the restaurant called his friend from Philadelphia on his cell phone to tell him about the pianist, and then let his friend experience it by holding his cell phone close to the piano so his friend could hear him playing. We learned that his name is David Maxwell and he�'s an outstanding blues and jazz pianist who�'s played in a lot of great bands, including Freddie King, Bonnie Raitt, James Cotton and Muddy Waters. His own recent album, �"You Got to Move�" was winner of 2010 Blues Music Awards Acoustic Album of the Year. Eric and I took our time through dinner so that we could stay through his entire show. Unfortunately, he only played for two hours. After he finished, I went up to tell him how much I enjoyed his music, and I asked him whether Chuck Leavell had been influenced by his playing. He kind of chuckled and, after noting that he knows and respects Chuck, said that he didn�'t think either of them copied anything from one another. Dinner, by the way, was outstanding as well. Cheryl, the owner of the restaurant, was a gracious and wonderful hostess. She has only had the restaurant there for about a year and a half (which is why it wasn�'t mentioned in the guidebook), but it�'s been doing well and growing through word of mouth. We were lucky to have been able to experience David Maxwell and the Fig Tree, leaving us with a memorable last night in Bequia.