Frog and Toad’s Dixie Quartet and guest vocalist Brent Thompson performed for a virtual audience on Tuesday evening as part of the Tennessee Theatre’s “Ghostlight Series,” a series in September highlighting local Knoxville musicians.
As a result of COVID-19, the theatre has been shut down for months, and Knoxville musicians have been unable to perform. To bring music back to Knoxville, the Tennessee Theatre hosts a different local group each Tuesday, streaming the performance through a multitude of different platforms.
An interesting aspect of the performance was that the auditorium of the theatre is set as the background, so the artists faced towards the back of the stage. This was a beautiful touch to the performance, because while the theatre was empty, the red background of the chairs made the scene that much more elegant and realistic.
Frog and Toad’s Dixie Quartet is a Knoxville-based swinging jazz band, and guest vocalist Brent Thompson is from Knoxville’s Grand Entertainment Palace. Together, these two musicians created an hour-long classy jazz set, even including famous jazz number “Anything Goes.” The set also included original compositions from their own album.
An important aspect of “The Ghostlight Series” is donations. The performances are totally free to stream, but viewers are given the ability to donate to both the local musicians as well as the Tennessee Theatre during the stream. This way, the public can still support local artists, even during the pandemic, while also enjoying a great set by talented musicians.
The quality of this stream was truly amazing. Since the pandemic began, we’ve seen streams of almost any event imaginable, as people try to stay connected during this time. However, an unfortunate aspect of streaming events live can be poor audio or camera quality.
Both the audio and camera qualities of this stream, however, were impeccable. The video’s clarity was a major part of what made the event so enjoyable to watch. Even the camerawork was great, giving the viewers close ups to each of the musicians and moving around the stage to get different angles.
This event was the closest to a real-life performance that I have experienced during the pandemic. The musicians treated it as if they were playing for an in-person with all the elegance and grace that we’d expect from artists as talented as they are.
“The Ghostlight Series” is a brilliant way to support local musicians during these trying times. Everyone on stage seemed to be happy to be playing again, gesturing to the viewers, smiling and cracking jokes in between songs. Frog and Toad’s Dixie Quartet radiated truly positive energy, something we all need right now.
The next performance in “The Ghostlight Series” will take place next Wednesday at 8 p.m., available to stream on Vimeo and Facebook, featuring Guy Marshall.
