The Preserve Jazz Fest

I really want to say thanks so much to all of you who are participating in the Thrifty Monday parties. It seems to me like everyone is really enjoying them, so I’m happy about that. I am trying my best to get around to everyone and leave a note, but I might be behind some weeks. Ya’ll are a thrifting bunch of girls! And welcome to those of you who are new to my blog. I hope you’ll make yourself at home and look around.

Being a longtime fan of jazz and growing up in Atlanta with Chastain Park and lots of live music, we had a great time at The Preserve Jazz Fest on Sunday afternoon. They couldn’t have ordered up a better day for it. Hot temps, blue skies, and a perfectly lovely summer day made for a wonderful musical event. We sure enjoyed it and will plan to go next year. I’m not sure why we didn’t go the other 2 previous years, but this year when I saw it in the paper and saw who would be there, we jumped on it. This venue was a perfect place to enjoy jazz and we do. I’ll start off with a little recap of the jazz fest and then, I’ll share some architectural and house info from this really neat neighborhood. I even got to meet a fellow blogger in person who I had been emailing back and forth with for a few months. In fact, they live here in The Preserve, and her husband is one of the co-founders of this festival.

Main stage. The show started at 3:00 pm with some lesser known jazz musicians, but really, all the music was good. It was a hot and sultry 90+ day, so we were all feeling the sun and the heat. Umbrellas were brought out between sets to ward off the sun, which was beating down on us. We lucked out and got mostly in the shade, but as the sun moved, we did get some sunshine on us.

Part of the crowd and looking over toward the street, you can see some of the houses in this pretty neighborhood. I’ll tell you more about that in a minute.

Blue skies prevailed. We heard last year there was a monsoon, so I’m really happy that history did not repeat itself in this instance.

This was later on after the sun was going down. After sitting out in the heat all day, we weren’t quite fresh as a daisy anymore, but it was a lovely way to spend the day.

Food was allowed to be brought in, so I fixed up a nice picnic lunch for us. I had grilled a London broil over the weekend, after marinating it overnight and it made great sandwiches, accompanied by a favorite red potato salad that I make with bacon, and that popular broccoli salad with raisins that you’ve probably all had. Kalamata olives were a good side too. Edited to add: I had already posted this potato salad recipe last year, so click here to find it.

There was a sweet dog near us and she made friends with my hubby and me. We got fairly close to the stage and you can see the crowd behind us. I think they were expecting over 3,000 to attend.

Jazz trumpeter, Melvin Miller, from Atlanta was one of the performers. He was really great and walked around in the crowd on this number.

Birmingham’s own, Eric Essex is also one of the main organizers of this fest. He’s a wonderful guitarist and we have heard him and his group, Five Men on a Stool, several times, including once here in Birmingham at WorkPlay that hubby and I had as a date night a couple years ago. Both Melvin and Eric are in this group, so if you ever get a chance to see them, go!

The headline act for the show was Rick Braun, Richard Elliott, and Jonathan Butler. We’ve heard Rick and Jonathan before, but this was the first time for Richard Elliott, a fantastic sax player. Sax music is MY all time favorite jazz of all. Love me some sax music! This is Rick Braun who is a very gifted trumpet player.

Richard Elliott doing his thing.

And all 3, Rick, Richard and a favorite of ours, Jonathan Butler. He’s a Christian and is not ashamed to share his faith on stage. Love him.

So, you know I have to work something in here about homes, huh. Let’s go on a little walking tour of The Preserve and I’ll tell you something about it.

From their website, The Preserve: Walk the quiet streets of The Preserve, past porches and well-tended flowerbeds and you begin to feel as if part of a Classic American neighborhood-something old and solid yet still new. The homes all find their roots in the full flowering of American architecture, from the stately Southern influences of New Orleans, Charleston and Savannah, to the profound simplicity of the Craftsman bungalow. And each house expresses the values of traditional craftsmanship, restraint and a return to simple elegance.

The red brick house above is for sale at the moment. You can see from the description that The Preserve is a really cool place. In fact, when we were looking at houses before we moved over here, we looked at The Preserve and I fell in love with it. Of course, my practical hubby thought that for the money, we could do better elsewhere, so out to Shelby County we went and got more for our dollars. And we are very happy in our current home, but I loved the concept of The Preserve and think it’s a great neighborhood to this day.

There are a lot of styles and sizes of homes here and it does have an old-fashioned feel to it. I think that’s what I loved the most.

Pretty pretty cottage!

This one above looks like an old farmhouse, doesn’t it?

So, I mentioned that I met up with a blog friend and this is her house.

Say hello to Robyn, from Chez la Maison. She and I have emailed back and forth a few times and it was great to meet her in person. She is a sweetheart and we had fun talking blogs and decorating. She just shared with me that she has opened up a booth at the Hoover Antique mall and will be selling out of there in her spare time. That’s a great place to shop if any of you haven’t been there. I shared about it last year here, so check out this post. It’s where I bought my chest of drawers for the master bedroom. I can’t wait to check out her space. I’ve thought about doing that myself, but wasn’t sure I want the pressure of having to keep a space filled up. Robyn graciously let me take a few pics inside, so I just took a couple. Her house is just as charming as it looks from the outside.

This is right inside in the livingroom and you can see that Robyn loves the white slipcovered look with dark furniture, seagrass, and zebra. My kind of girl! Even though I love this look too, I told her that I’m not ready to part with all my things to start over like this. But, I sure do admire it!

Check out these Italian marble lamps that she got from her mom. Aren’t they gorgeous? You can bet if I ever run across a pair of these when I’m out saling, I’ll be buying them.

And this is her diningroom, complete with white slips also. Very pretty room!

I hope you enjoyed seeing bits of the jazz fest and for you Birmingham girls who haven’t been before, you really should think about going next year. I was so excited to see some great jazz artists come to town, since growing up in Atlanta we always had some really high quality entertainment and we’ve seen our share of jazz in the ATL too. It’s just nice to enjoy it here in Birmingham too, so I hope that this will be the start to lots more jazz in the future for The Magic City.

Want to get in on a sweet giveaway? Check out Cheri's blog for all the details!

And, I'm joining Melissa at 320 Sycamore on Thursday for a Paint Party. Go over and check it out if you'd like to join too.