BLUE WINDOW News:

Members of The Craig Martin Experience. Photo by Minesh Bacrania Photography

The Blue Window Bistro is celebrating its second year of business under the ownership of Melissa Paternoster with a Jazz Night featuring The Craig Martin Experience Saturday, Aug. 4. Tickets are $15 per person and dinner reservations are required.

The Craig Martin Experience, led by Craig Martin, includes Quinn Marksteiner on alto saxophone, Mandy Markensteiner on trumpet, Mike Rogers on guitar, Aaron Anderson on keyboards, Rob Heineman on bass, John Frary on drums and Craig Martin on tenor saxophone.

The Craig Martin Experience (CME) came together in late 2010 as a loose assemblage of musicians interested in sharing ideas on jazz performance.

CME played at the Blue Window in March for what was only their third public performance. “We were rather intimidated, but the dinner guests inspired us with a warm reception and enthusiastic applause,” bandleader Craig Martin said. “Since then, we’ve gigged at weddings, fundraisers, and dinner receptions, so we’re a much more confident and solid band now.”

The band’s personnel has remained the same for the past eight months with Craig Martin on tenor and alto sax and clarinet, Quinn Marksteiner on alto and baritone sax, Carl Hagelberg on trumpet, Mike Rogers on guitar, Aaron Anderson on keyboard, Rob Heineman on bass, and John Frary on drums.

For the Aug. 4 performance, Mandy Marksteiner will sit in for Carl Hagelberg on trumpet.

CME’s repertoire is an eclectic mix of about 50 tunes from the 1930s to the present.

It’s a mix of old-fashioned swing from the thirties and forties, classic hard bop from the fifties and sixties, funky jazz from the seventies and eighties, and a smattering of salsa-influenced Latin tunes from the present.

“We like to play a mix of songs that the audience is familiar with, and tunes that are so swinging that they are accessible to everyone,” Martin said.

At the Blue Window, CME will perform four short sets, each with a theme. They will start with a “Duke Ellington and Friends” set, “Dinner Swing,” featuring comfortable and familiar songs.

They will follow with “Latin Moods,” a set of three tunes with different Latin rhythms, a bosa nova, a cha-cha, and a calypso.

The second half of the will begin with “Inspiration from Horace Silver,” one of the groups’ favorite composers. The Silver tunes will include gospel, funk, and Latin influences. The evening will close out with “Funkiness.”

The quartet will perform 7-9 p.m. The regular dinner menu will be offered from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. All menus are posted at labluewindowbistro.com.

The Blue Window Bistro has a loyal clientele and 29 years of service. Melissa Paternoster has been the owner since June of 2010.

She is a native of Los Alamos and a graduate of Los Alamos High School.

The Blue Window Bistro is located at 813 Central Avenue in downtown Los Alamos. For reservations call (505) 662-6305.