Album Notes

Joe Thayer and George Rice have played together virtually every week for over two years in season, at 'Mattison's Forty-One' restaurant in Sarasota, Florida— as well as the Sarasota Ritz Carlton and the City Grill. Their Monday night duos have become very popular with many regular customers who bring their friends to hear great vocals of 'standards' in a light jazz genre. Their music reflects their basic attitude, "just keep smiling and let's have fun".

Joe and George hit it off with their great improvisation (as George notes "we never play a song the same way twice") and they welcome all requests: "if you can hum it we can play it". "Joe has a great voice 'with character’, and I try to surround it with a cool light jazz background," says George. It was natural for their first CD to invite their close friend and musical accomplice from many Sarasota gigs, Peter Bonagiano, to provide the percussion piece. “We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed playing it!” says George.

Says Joe, "This is our music... we play it every night. And this recording was produced live in just two studio sessions with no repeats. We have a huge repertoire and these thirteen songs represent a core of what you can hear us play any night. These light classic jazz standards reflect how we sound live. As I tell my wife on Monday nights, ‘I am going to have fun tonight. Tonight it’s me and George.’ ”