It's about the jazz, not the clothing

I was stuck. T-shirt or collared shirt? I figured slacks would be too much, so I settled on jeans.

I was on my way to Savanna's Lounge (inside the Red Lion Inn on Arden Way) for its weekly Thursday night jazz concert. It was to be my first trip to a "jazz club." What do people wear to jazz clubs? Visions of smokey rooms filled with sophisticated fans swirled through my head.

I didn't care about being the best-dressed one there - somewhere in the lower 10th percentile is fine with me - I just didn't want to be the worst-dressed one there.

I arrived at school to pick up a friend who would be going with me to see he was wearing the same thing he had been wearing earlier in the day. How anticlimactic.

"This thing is off-campus?" he asked incredulously.

Once we arrived, clothing all but faded from our minds as we took a seat at a tall table glowing with a single candle. The first performer was finishing her set, and the room was all but empty. Maybe it just seemed that way because of the huge open spaces between tables and seats.

The hotel is in the middle of renovations, and a stripe of yellow caution tape hung over a black velvet curtain covering a doorway.

The band was calm and the mood was relaxed, and a couple of visitors wearing blazers nursed sandwiches or drinks. It occurred to me that this would be a good place to bring a date if I wanted to trick her into thinking I had sophisticated, refined tastes.

At 8 p.m., Sacramento State senior Glynis Davies took the stage for a set with the house band. Her voice bounced lightly through her upper and lower registers as she swayed and bounced with the rhythm.

She meekly thanked the crowd between songs as the group of students who had materialized just before her set hung on her every note, heads bobbing subtly.

Her relaxed set lasted about an hour, and included a cameo from fellow jazz studies major Arlyn Anderson on guitar.

Savanna's Lounge will feature Sac State students as guest performers for the next two Thursdays. The relaxed atmosphere would be a good place for a first jazz concert, and seasoned fans will appreciate the skilled performers.

There is no cover charge, and the bar/restaurant is all-ages. Click here for driving directions. For more information, call (916) 922-8041.

Listen to a (low-quality) recording from the concert here: