Houston musical icon Ezra Charles drew a huge crowd at the free Keller Williams Concert at Kings Harbor last Friday night.
While Ezra is a real crowd pleaser on the piano, even he acknowledged that the cooler weather may have had something to do with the large number of people who brought their lawn chairs out to the Harbor Plaza.
“I like playing in Kingwood because weather is so nice when I’m here,” he exclaimed. “Or is it always this way in Kingwood?”
The die-hard concert goers who had weathered the heat all summer long welcomed the breeze off the lake.
The Ezra Charles Band kicked off the evening with the song “So Many Women,” which included a rousing performance by the horn section. Typically an all-female enclave, the ladies with the brass instruments were joined by a male trumpet player. Derek Sonnier, who was filling in for the regular trumpet player Rachelle Akpanumoh, was accompanied by Alisha Pattillo on saxophone, Nancy Dalbey on trombone, Dave Sartin on drums, Michael Seybold on guitar while Ezra kept the beat on piano.
The next song really showcased Ezra’s piano skills. His hands flew across the keys during “88 Answers” – a song he wrote about his favorite instrument. A consummate story teller, Ezra started each new song imparting a little background information on the audience. He said that so many famous musicians grew up in his hometown of Beaumont that he had to write a song about the fact. He performed “Beaumont Boys” mentioning the likes the Winter brothers, Harry James and Clay Walker in the lyrics.
Ezra admitted that his dates while attending Rice University were a source of material for the song “Bolivar Ferry.” The couples in the audience took the hint and started spilling onto the Plaza dance floor as Ezra sang his classic tune about his Galveston jaunts.
At the band’s break, the Keller Williams’ Masters of Ceremonies Karen Fitzgerald and Donna Barrett thanked the concerts’ band sponsors:
Texan GMC and Kings Harbor. They then introduced the charity guest: Special Olympics Texas. The non-profit organization was represented by Vice President of Development Joan Jarrett, Development Director Judy Luquette and Special Olympics’ athlete Ashley Billard who won a gold medal in Shanghai. Jarrett said that the Special Olympics occur year round and she encouraged the audience to volunteer at one of the 300 competitions in 21 sports.
Jarrett also plugged some of the unique fund-raisers put on by the organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities. “Over the Edge” is an event on November 17 where participants will rappel down the Embassy Suites in downtown Houston. “Walk Across Texas” is a fitness challenge where participants are asked to walk 832 miles (equal to the width of the state of Texas) in eight weeks.
During the band’s second set, Ezra recounted the history of “boogie woogie” blues. He asked the crowd the rhetorical question: “How much boogie woogie can one guy and one piano make?” Then he went on to show them just how much with the songs: “Red Beans” and “House of Blue Lights.”
The finale for the set was “A Little of This” from the CD “Drive Time” released in 1996. A genuine showman, Ezra thrilled the audience by setting his piano on fire during the song while continuing to twinkle the ivories.
Just as the piano was cooling down, Texan GMC’s head coach and band sponsor Bert Brocker showed up to heat things up by talking football. He spoke to the crowd about how he is helping to promote high school sports by broadcasting all of the Humble ISD varsity football home games on www.TexasAllSports.com. He noted that the Friday night games have a delayed broadcast, but the rest of them are streamed live.
For the third set, the band chose to play songs from their semi-final round in the 2011 International Blues Challenge in Memphis. “Blues Lover” was a hit with the dancers, who were seen swinging along to the music. The band then slowed down the pace with the movie theme song “Night Game” from their CD “Modern Years” released in 1994. Couples quickly filled the dance floor to slow dance by the light of the crescent moon.
But Ezra was not yet done playing boogie-woogie piano. The “King of Texas Blues” piano was last heard singing the words: “Kiss me baby. I don’t care if I die. Don’t ever say goodbye.” The audience did not want to say goodbye either, staying around to enjoy the lovely evening until the roadies packed up Ezra’s baby grand.