I saw, it reminded me, and I thought I would share. I like live jazz music. Unfortunately, the jazz train doesn’t stop too much where I live. It’s here, but just not in as big a way as other genres, all great for sure! So, when a few recognizable jazz personas hit the town for a weekend workshop a few years back, I had to dig a little deeper. It turned out that after the workshops during the day, the musicians were going to be improvising at a local wine bar. I’m there, cameras in tow. My then girlfriend (now wife) and I got there early, parked it, and spent five hours listening to well over 15 musicians in a small venue, large enough for the musicians, folks with the musicians, and a few onlookers. Dimly lit, it was a great night.

Fast-forward until just a few WEEKS ago. I was catching the Crosby, Stills, & Nash portion of a DVR’d Rock’n'Roll Hall of Fame 25th Anniversary concert, when I noticed someone I recognized, but I couldn’t quite place where I knew him from. Every now and then, Stephen Stills (if you don’t know which one that is, go buy a CSN album, look at the liner notes, but more importantly, be blown away by the music) would look up at the keyboardist behind him. I knew him…but where.

Then it hit me. His name is Todd Caldwell, and (if you didn’t guess by now) he was playing that night several years ago at the wine bar. I had a ton of photos of him, and caught a nice conversation with him after the jam. It makes you think how small the world really is, and that you just never know who you’ll run in to, and where and when they’ll pop back up, in person or on TV. I thought about not taking my cameras that night, but I’m glad I had them with me. One of those times, for a lot of reasons, I’m glad I don’t have to say, “If I’d had a camera…”

If you’re interested to hear what Todd Caldwell’s been up to, check out his Twitter feed, and catch him while he’s on tour with CSN.

By the way, for those photographers reading: You’ve probably heard, but the noise reduction in LR3 is outstanding. These images were shot at ISO 1600 with an old Canon EOS 5D, which we all can agree was not the most attractive ISO to shoot at…