Sandwich provided a tasty, jazz filled appetite and filling treat at the Slice, Sept. 22, which whetted the appetite for anyone who loves generous helpings a of jazz, R and B, creativity and a dash of humour.

 The band, including Kyle Harmon on drums, Ryan Heseltine on saxophone, bassist Paul Holden and lead vocalist/ guitarist Arlen Wutch, mixed a variety of music, playing everything from Burt Bacharach to Primus and everything in between.

It isn’t often you hear Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” turned into a quirky jazz song including a drum solo consisting of dog bark samples, let alone followed by a jazzy version of Beck’s hip hop tinged hit “Two Turntables and a Microphone, “(Where It’s At)” then George Michael’s “Careless Whisper.” It was pure unadulterated brilliance.

They also added a couple Sandwich instrumentals featuring some sizzling guitar from Arlen Wutch and some superb Ryan Heselitine saxophone.

Evan Eushenko joined them on stage for a couple songs. Throughout they put their own stamp on a variety of classic soul including Marvin Gaye’s Mercy, Mercy Me, ’80s pop, Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean,” and much, much more including some odd choices for covers, which really worked including Harold Faltermeyer’s Axel F, best known as the theme from Beverly Hills Cop, which they had the crowd chant along with the main melody.

I only caught the tail end of Little Birdie’s set at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Saturday, Sept.22, but, as always was impressed.

 Little Birdie aka Orit Shimoni ended up opening for Leigh Doerksen, but stood out with her big, beautiful resonant voice which had elements of jazz as well as contemporary girls with guitars from the ’90s She ended her set with “Leave the City Burning,” then added a “thank you” song.

 Lethbridge bluesman Daryll Düus released his long awaited new CD, Sept. 21 for an enthusiastic audience at the Slice.

 He began his second set with a bang by playing blues classic “Bring it on Home,” and followed that up with a solid set of big, booming, huge riffed blues rock including a lot of originals from the new CD “Oilite” and several blues standards.

 He had a hot band playing with him including Tyler Bird on drums, Taylor Ackerman supplying some superb harmonized guitar leads and the occasional lead vocal and new bassist Jon Critchly.

Düus howled and growled his lyrics, stepped out of the spotlight to let the band do their thing, and came back into the light for a solo or two.

A couple of the highlights from the new CD were  “Eyes In The Back of My Head,” and “Listen Up.”
“Love Somebody,” a staple of his usual set was another highlight.

Evan Eushenko joined them on stage to blow some harp on a couple of numbers.

they ended their second set on a blues rock note by covering David Wilcox’s “When Downtown Goes Uptown” and an old Jimmy Reed song.

 The third set was more straight ahead blues which had much of the audience on their feet.

Calgary blues/ jazz musician  Erin Ross was in a laid back, jazzy mood at the Owl Acoustic Lounge, Sept. 21.

 Ross, who also played the Mocha Cabana on Saturday, played a sultry set of smoky jazz music. She played for a room of approximately 30 people, most of whom weren’t paying attention.

 She played some pretty fingerpicked, jazz tinged licks, as she sang so sweetly. She sand some old blues standards some songs from her EPs as well as  some brand new music, including a very pretty, jazzy song called “I’ve Been a Fool For You.”

“Sweet Thing,” was a highlight as was the Sam Cook song she ended her first set with.

 Ashley Northey opened up with a pretty set of acoustic pop/ folk music.