An Evening With Ramsey Lewis

So we went to see Ramsey Lewis at Yoshi's in Oakland a nightclub and restaurant in  Jack London Square.  We carpooled with my sister-in-law.  Six o'clock dinner reservation so we left at 5:00.  Bad traffic getting to the bay bridge.  The traffic on the bridge wasn't too bad so we weren't too late.  We parked in the parking structure and Yoshi's was right there.  We were seated near the window where we could see the Amtrak trains running down the middle of the street.  The food was Japanese served family style and it was fantastic.
We started off with some appetizers:

HamacHi ‘crudo’  sliced mango, jalapeno, fresh ginger, crispy garlic chips, warm ponzu -- I didn't have any since it had raw fish in it.
Panko Fried organic Brussels Sprouts bacon, spicy miso aioli--these were really yummy. The brussels sprouts were caramelized.
naSu dengaku fried Japanese eggplant & tofu; house made sweet miso--this was really good, too.

Entrees:
My hubby had the Tiger Prawns Tempura.  He said they were good. A bowl of miso soup.
I had the cedar Plank grilled Scottish Salmon baby spinach, okra; soy broth which was out of this world.  I have never had fish that melted in your mouth like butter.  It was so good.
My sister-in-law got the 'kakiage' Fritter seasonal vegetables with shrimp & scallops--another really good dish.
My brother-in-law ordered a sashmi plate that he shared.

We also got an order of the sauteed mixed mushroom and the grilled asparagus with balsamic reduction both were delish.

After we were done eating we went to see  the show. It is a small intimate venue. These guys were good.  Ramsey Lewis has been playing since the 50's.  We were in the second row right in front of the stage.  I have heard of Ramsey Lewis but I didn't know his music.  He plays smooth Jazz. Ramsey Lewis played an old Steinway superbly.  He was backed  by some pretty cool Jazz musicians  a drummer, a keyboardist, a guitar player and a bass player who alternated between an electric bass and a big double bass that he played both Jazz style and with a bow.  It was funny when we started to recognize the pieces he was playing.  Some of them we knew from Earth, Wind and Fire, a Stevie Wonder song, a Beatles song, a Stylistics song and his hit from the sixties the instrumental version of "The In Crowd".  But what I really liked were the pop Jazz songs that I knew.  I didn't really get a feel for the music until I heard him played Stevie Wonder's "Living For the City" and the Stylistics "Betcha By Golly Wow" that is my kind of music.  Hearing the Stylistics song brought me back to Junior High when I would sit in my room singing their songs.  He played "Sun Goddess" for his encore.