Fake Review

Danny Fox Trio at the Bop Shop in Rochester, New York
Danny Fox Trio at the Bop Shop in Rochester, New York

We hadn’t quite finished this morning’s paper when Alice and Julio called from a nearby Best Western hotel. They were back in town from Maine to see a play and visit old friends. Hours flew by as the talk veered back and forth between art and Spain. And then back to the paper.

A review in the Art and Leisure section of the Danny Fox Trio caught my eye, a reference to chamber jazz and Duke Ellington, so I called up a sample on my iPad. The front page of their website said they were playing on the 18th at the Bop Shop so I checked the date. It was today and they were to start in ten minutes. We hopped in the car.

Turns out the drummer is from Brighton so it was one of the best crowds I’d seen at the record shop. I sat up on a counter. The piano player writes beautiful tunes with plenty of room in the arrangements for the bass player and drummer to bring them to life. They were a joy to listen to.

We talked to the piano player after the gig and he told us that for fun he used to write fake reviews of the band in the critic, Ben Ratliff’s, style. And guess who reviewed his band today?

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