Smoke gets in your eyes at the Palladium’s Bob Seymour tribute show

Everybody here at the Palladium is still recovering from a very historic Sunday of jazz. Our tribute to WUSF Jazz Director Bob Seymour and his 30 years on the air was historic enough, with dozens of world-class players on our Hough Hall and Side Door stages. Then, of course, there was all that smoke and the five fire trucks descending on our beautiful old building.

The motor in the Palladium’s original elevator burned out, sending smoke into our back hallways. Thankfully, the show stopped right at the end of the first set, after Dick Hyman and Ira Sullivan had combined on a beautiful ballad – “Autumn in New York.”

As we filed out onto the street not knowing what was burning, Ira told me – “I’m glad we weren’t playing an uptempo number – the place really would be burning down!”

The first set had been pretty magical – what with Fred Johnson, Gumbi Ortiz, Michael Ross and David Pate jamming on one of Fred’s improvised odes to Mr. Seymour; Kym Purling and Nate Najar almost setting the place on fire with a hyper-kenetic version of “Sweet Georgia Brown;” And the ever-amazing Dick Hyman’s set backed by Mark Feinman and Alejandro Arenas. As Dick tossed off note after note, the smoke begin to rise both metaphorically and literally.

After waiting outside for about 40 minutes – and just as the rain started to fall – St. Pete’s finest cleared the smoke and let us back into the building. I can’t say enough good words about the SPFD.

The second set was equally special – with Dick Hyman joining the USF Jazz Ensemble; the rollicking version of “Satin Doll” by Ellington band veterans John Lamb and Buster Cooper, along with singer Rose Bilal; and Ira Sullivan’s closing set, ending with “Amazing Grace.”

Thanks to all the musicians, the Al Downing Jazz Soceity and the Tampa Jazz Club for their help and support. Thanks for John Lamb for working with me. to Dwayne White for organizing the Side Door jam session. And thanks to everybody who turned out – and came back after our evacuation!

I’ll add more stories and photos from this memorable day but for now, I’ll post some snapshots by Marian Seymour, Bob’s wife.