It is obvious from the start the Ori Dagan can croon and swoon his audience from his opening notes. He has this quiet chemistry that radiates throughout the room and grabs your attention for his entire performance. He stuck to a lot of Nat King Cole songs that was well received with the whole room. Blue Moon and Mona Lisa seemed to be a couple of the favourites. Ori also went into one of my all time favs from Louis Armstrong, “That Lucky ol Sun”. He even did “Yesterday”, by the Beatles but added some extra soul for the crowd to remember.
With that said, the one thing you can’t escape, Thank God, is his scats… They are ridiculously flawless. I would pay big bucks just to hear him do a set of Doo-Wops…
Between his Doo-waps and his fun humour, you soon forget there is a real world outside of the walls you now reside in. You get lost from reality for a period of time when all you are doing is smiling at beautiful sounds. His band is tight and holds together your perception of reality for those precious moments.
Just when you think this is beautiful and fun, Ori receives a twitter request, and soooo, he plays it with Vim and Vigor. The Jazz world here in Toronto needs a new education, and I nominate Ori Dagan to be the new head Principle to give it to us.
Learn more about Ori Dagan at http://www.oridagan.com/
To see the schedule at 120 Diner click here http://120diner.com/
View images from the performance below:
I saw Ori play at Morgan’s on the Danforth the next day. Sad I missed him the night before.