Hosting a Live Jazz Evening Event in Toronto
The live jazz evening is one of the most genuinely sophisticated and the most genuinely enduring event formats available, and the specific qualities that make it most genuinely excellent -- the improvisational spontaneity, the deep musicianship, the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely intelligent musical conversation that happens between genuinely excellent jazz musicians -- create an event experience that no other format can replicate.
We have hosted live jazz evenings at our space at 260 Carlaw Avenue, Unit 202AA, in Leslieville, and they are consistently among the most quietly electrifying events we organize. There is a specific quality of attentive silence that the most genuinely excellent live jazz performance creates in a room -- the silence of an audience that is genuinely listening with the most genuinely complete focus, that can hear exactly what is being done and exactly why it matters -- that is among the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely valuable things any event can create.
The Nature of Jazz as Live Music
Jazz is, more than perhaps any other musical tradition, a music that is most genuinely alive in its live performance -- a music whose most genuinely essential qualities are created in real time, in the specific moment of performance, in the most genuinely specific interaction between the musicians who are playing together at this specific moment.
The improvisation dimension: the most genuinely fundamental dimension of jazz is improvisation -- the specific act of creating new musical material in real time, in response to the specific musical context of the moment, drawing on the most genuinely deep and the most genuinely comprehensive musical knowledge and vocabulary that the most genuinely excellent jazz musicians develop over a lifetime of practice and performance. The jazz solo is not a performance of something previously composed; it is the act of composition happening in real time, in public, at the highest level of musical intelligence and musical creativity available in any performing art.
The conversation metaphor: jazz musicians often describe what they do as a conversation -- a specific and genuinely musical dialogue in which each player is both speaking and listening simultaneously, in which each musical statement creates the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely immediate response from the other musicians, and in which the most genuinely excellent group produces something in their interaction that none of them could have created individually. This conversational quality is the most genuinely essential and the most genuinely irreplaceable dimension of the live jazz experience.
The historical depth: jazz is one of the most genuinely significant and the most genuinely deep musical traditions in the history of American culture -- a tradition that has produced some of the most genuinely extraordinary musicians and the most genuinely important music of the 20th century, that has continuously evolved and continuously regenerated itself across more than a hundred years of the most genuinely creative development. The live jazz evening is connected to this most genuinely rich and the most genuinely important tradition, and the most genuinely excellent live jazz performances carry this historical depth in every musical phrase.
The Jazz Formats
The live jazz evening encompasses a wide range of specific formats, and the most genuinely thoughtful organizers choose the format that is most genuinely appropriate for the specific occasion and the specific audience.
The jazz trio: the piano-bass-drums trio is the most genuinely fundamental and the most genuinely flexible jazz ensemble format available. The trio creates the most genuinely intimate and the most genuinely conversational jazz experience -- the three musicians in the most genuinely direct and the most genuinely transparent musical dialogue, with no horn to carry the melodic foreground and create the most genuinely complete musical picture from the most genuinely minimal instrumentation. The most genuinely excellent jazz trios -- the trios of Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson, and their most genuinely important successors -- have demonstrated that this most genuinely minimal format can create the most genuinely profound and the most genuinely complete jazz experiences available.
The jazz quartet: the addition of a horn player -- typically a tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, or trumpet -- to the rhythm section creates the most genuinely complete and the most genuinely traditional jazz ensemble available. The quartet format is the most genuinely flexible and the most genuinely well-balanced jazz configuration, creating the most genuinely excellent combination of harmonic richness, rhythmic drive, and melodic expression available in the acoustic jazz context.
The jazz vocal evening: the addition of a vocalist to the jazz ensemble creates the most genuinely accessible and the most genuinely broadly appealing jazz format available -- the specific combination of the most genuinely excellent instrumental jazz accompaniment with the most genuinely human and the most genuinely immediately accessible dimension of the sung lyric creates the most genuinely complete and the most genuinely emotionally accessible jazz experience. The jazz vocalist who most genuinely possesses the specific combination of technical excellence, improvisational sensibility, and the most genuinely personal and the most genuinely authentic emotional connection to the material creates the most genuinely memorable and the most genuinely affecting jazz vocal performance.
The Jazz Jam Session
The jazz jam session -- the open improvisation format in which musicians take turns sitting in with the house band, playing standards and exploring original material in the most genuinely spontaneous and the most genuinely collaborative context -- is one of the most genuinely alive and the most genuinely socially rich jazz formats available.
The tradition of the jam session: the jazz jam session has a long and genuinely important history in the development of jazz as a music and as a community. The most genuinely important musical innovations in jazz history have often been incubated in the specific context of the after-hours jam session -- the informal gathering where the most genuinely excellent musicians played for each other, challenged each other, and created the most genuinely new and the most genuinely important music outside the most formal performance context.
The community function: the regular jazz jam session is one of the most genuinely important community-building events available in the music world -- the occasion when the most genuinely diverse range of musicians, from the most genuinely experienced professionals to the most genuinely promising students, come together in the most genuinely collaborative and the most genuinely supportive musical context. The jam session that is most genuinely welcoming to the most genuinely wide range of experience levels creates the most genuinely inclusive and the most genuinely vibrant musical community.
The audience experience: the jazz jam session creates a genuinely fascinating and genuinely specific audience experience -- the specific pleasure of watching musicians meet each other for the most genuinely first time and begin to play together, of watching the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely immediate musical conversation that develops between musicians who are most genuinely responding to each other in real time.
The Space Design for Live Jazz
The physical environment for the live jazz evening has a genuinely significant impact on the quality of both the musical and the social experience.
The acoustic environment: jazz is acoustic music in the most specific and the most genuine sense -- music that is most genuinely created and most genuinely heard in its most natural acoustic state, without the most heavily processed amplification that many other contemporary music forms require. The room that has the most genuinely excellent natural acoustics for acoustic jazz -- the most genuinely appropriate reverberation, the most genuinely clear and the most genuinely undistorted sound at the most genuinely appropriate volume -- creates the most genuinely excellent jazz listening environment.
The intimacy dimension: the live jazz experience is most genuinely excellent in an intimate setting -- the room where the audience is genuinely close to the musicians, where the most genuinely specific details of the performance are genuinely visible and genuinely audible, and where the most genuinely direct and the most genuinely human connection between performer and audience is most genuinely possible. The most genuinely excellent jazz venues are the ones that create this intimacy most specifically.
The social atmosphere: the live jazz evening is also a social occasion, and the most genuinely excellent jazz venues create the most genuinely warm and the most genuinely comfortable social atmosphere alongside the most genuinely excellent musical experience. The space that is most genuinely comfortable, most genuinely beautiful, and most genuinely warm -- that creates the most genuinely excellent conditions for both the musical listening and the social conversation that the jazz evening naturally generates -- is the space that creates the most genuinely complete live jazz experience.
Toronto's Jazz Heritage
Toronto has a genuinely significant and a genuinely specific jazz heritage, and the live jazz evening in Toronto is participating in this specific and genuinely important tradition.
The Toronto jazz scene: Toronto has been home to some of the most genuinely excellent jazz musicians in the Canadian and international jazz landscape -- the specific history of Toronto jazz venues, Toronto jazz festivals, and Toronto jazz musicians who have made the most genuinely significant contributions to the international jazz tradition is a history worth knowing and celebrating. The live jazz evening in Toronto is connected to this specific and genuinely important local heritage.
The Oscar Peterson legacy: Oscar Peterson -- arguably the most genuinely excellent jazz pianist in the history of the music -- was born in Montreal but spent crucial years of his development in Toronto and is among the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely important figures in the Canadian jazz tradition. The Oscar Peterson legacy is one of the most genuinely important cultural inheritances available to any Canadian jazz performer or jazz event organizer.
We are at 260 Carlaw Avenue, Unit 202AA, in Leslieville, Toronto. The live jazz evenings we host in our loft create the most genuinely intimate and the most genuinely musically excellent environment for this most genuinely important of all live music traditions. The warm acoustic character of our space, the intimacy of our loft configuration, and the specific atmosphere of genuine creative purpose that our building carries create the most genuinely appropriate and the most genuinely beautiful setting for the most genuinely excellent live jazz performance. We look forward to every jazz evening that creates the most genuine musical excellence, the most genuine listening, and the most genuinely excellent shared experience in our space.
The Specific Demands of the Jazz Musician
Understanding the specific requirements and the specific needs of the professional jazz musician helps the most genuinely excellent event organizer create the most genuinely excellent conditions for the most genuinely excellent jazz performance.
The setup and sound check: the live jazz performance requires the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely thorough setup and sound check process. The acoustic piano that needs the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely expert attention to ensure it is most genuinely in tune and most genuinely responsive; the specific microphone placement for the horn players that creates the most genuinely natural and the most genuinely appropriate amplification without the most genuinely disruptive feedback that can make the most genuinely modest amplification a problem; the specific monitor placement for the rhythm section that creates the most genuinely appropriate and the most genuinely helpful on-stage sound -- these are the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely important technical requirements of the live jazz performance that the most genuinely excellent event organizer attends to most carefully.
The set list flexibility: the most genuinely excellent jazz performances are the ones that have the most genuinely flexible set list -- the collection of tunes and the most genuinely specific repertoire that the musicians can draw from most freely, adjusting the set most specifically to the most genuinely specific energy of the room, the most genuinely current response of the audience, and the most genuinely spontaneous creative directions that emerge in the performance itself. The jazz performance that is most genuinely pre-programmed and most genuinely inflexible loses the most genuinely essential and the most genuinely irreplaceable improvisational dimension that makes jazz most genuinely live.
The between-tune atmosphere: the moments between tunes at the jazz performance are genuinely important to manage most thoughtfully. The most genuinely excellent jazz performers address the audience between tunes in the most genuinely appropriate and the most genuinely warm way -- sharing the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely interesting context for the next piece, acknowledging the most genuinely specific contributions of the other musicians in the ensemble, and creating the most genuinely human and the most genuinely personal connection with the audience that makes the live performance experience most genuinely intimate and most genuinely memorable.
Jazz Education Through the Live Event
The live jazz evening creates one of the most genuinely excellent and the most genuinely accessible jazz education opportunities available -- the opportunity to hear the most genuinely live and the most genuinely specific explanation of what jazz is and what it does from the musicians who are making it most genuinely.
The pre-concert talk: the pre-concert talk -- the specific and genuinely accessible introduction to the music that will be performed, the most genuinely interesting and the most genuinely illuminating explanation of the most genuinely important musical concepts, the most genuinely specific context for the most genuinely significant repertoire -- creates the most genuinely engaged and the most genuinely informed audience for the performance that follows. The pre-concert talk that is most genuinely accessible to the most genuinely diverse range of musical backgrounds creates the most genuinely inclusive and the most genuinely enriched jazz experience.
The post-concert discussion: the post-concert discussion -- the most genuinely direct and the most genuinely personal conversation between the musicians and the audience after the performance -- creates one of the most genuinely valuable jazz education experiences available. The musician who can speak most specifically and most genuinely about what they were doing musically, what choices they made in the most genuinely specific improvisational moments, and what the most genuinely important influences on their musical development have been creates the most genuinely illuminating and the most genuinely personal jazz education experience.
The Business of Booking Jazz
Understanding the business dimensions of booking live jazz helps the most genuinely thoughtful event organizer create the most genuinely excellent and the most genuinely sustainable jazz event program.
The musician fee structure: the most genuinely professional jazz musicians charge the most genuinely specific fees for live performances, and the most genuinely excellent event organizers understand and respect this fee structure as the most genuinely important investment in the quality of the live music experience. The most genuinely excellent jazz performance is worth the most genuinely appropriate fee, and the event organizer who understands this creates the most genuinely excellent and the most genuinely sustainable relationships with the most genuinely excellent musicians.
The union considerations: the most genuinely professional jazz musicians in Toronto are often members of the Toronto Musicians' Association, and the most genuinely thoughtful event organizers understand and respect the most genuinely specific union considerations that apply to the engagement of union musicians for live performance events.
We are at 260 Carlaw Avenue, Unit 202AA, in Leslieville, Toronto. The live jazz evenings we host in our space are among the most genuinely beautiful and the most genuinely intellectually rich events in our calendar. Our space's warm acoustics, the intimacy of our loft configuration, and the genuine care we bring to every aspect of the live music environment create the most genuinely excellent conditions for the most genuinely excellent jazz performance available in Toronto. We look forward to every jazz evening that creates the most genuine musical beauty, the most genuine listening, and the most genuinely excellent shared experience in our space.
The Jazz Standards Repertoire
The jazz standards -- the specific body of songs that form the most genuinely shared and the most genuinely central repertoire of the jazz tradition -- are among the most genuinely important cultural artifacts available in the American musical tradition, and understanding them helps the most genuinely thoughtful jazz event audience derive the most genuinely complete and the most genuinely specific pleasure from the live jazz performance.
The Great American Songbook: the most genuinely central source of jazz standards is the Great American Songbook -- the specific collection of popular songs composed primarily between the 1920s and the 1960s by the most genuinely extraordinary collection of composers and lyricists that American popular music has ever produced. Gershwin, Porter, Berlin, Kern, Rodgers, Hart, and their most genuinely important contemporaries created a body of songs that the most genuinely excellent jazz musicians have drawn on for more than a century, finding in these harmonically rich and melodically beautiful compositions the most genuinely excellent vehicles available for the improvisational art form.
The jazz original: alongside the standards, the jazz tradition has produced the most genuinely extraordinary collection of original compositions -- the jazz originals that have become standards in their own right through the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely constant performance by the most genuinely excellent musicians across multiple generations. Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight," Miles Davis's "All Blues," John Coltrane's "A Love Supreme," and their most genuinely important equivalents represent the most genuinely original and the most genuinely significant creative achievements of the jazz tradition.
The ballad: the jazz ballad -- the slow, harmonically rich, and most genuinely emotionally direct performance of a song at the most genuinely intimate tempo -- is one of the most genuinely beautiful and the most genuinely affecting experiences available in the live jazz context. The musician who plays the most genuinely excellent ballad -- who creates the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely complete emotional statement within the most genuinely unhurried and the most genuinely deeply felt interpretation of a standard or an original -- creates the most genuinely moving live jazz experience available.
The Role of the Jazz Club in Urban Culture
The jazz club -- the specific and genuinely important venue that has historically been the most genuinely central institution of jazz culture -- plays a genuinely specific and genuinely important role in the cultural life of the most genuinely excellent cities.
The neighborhood anchor: the jazz club that most genuinely serves its specific neighborhood -- that creates the most genuinely regular and the most genuinely accessible music calendar for the most genuinely diverse community around it -- is the jazz club that most genuinely contributes to the most genuinely rich and the most genuinely specific cultural life of its specific place. The most genuinely excellent jazz clubs in the most genuinely excellent cities are the ones that are most genuinely embedded in the specific life of their most specific neighborhoods.
The musician development: the jazz club has historically been the most genuinely important venue for the development of the most genuinely excellent young jazz musicians -- the specific place where the most genuinely promising players get the most genuinely regular performance opportunities, the most genuinely direct exposure to the most genuinely excellent professional musicians, and the most genuinely specific feedback from the most genuinely engaged and the most genuinely knowledgeable audiences. The jazz club that most genuinely supports the development of the most genuinely young and the most genuinely excellent musicians creates the most genuinely important contribution to the most genuinely long-term health of the jazz tradition.
The Future of Jazz
The jazz tradition is not a static or a completed art form -- it is the most genuinely living and the most genuinely continuously evolving musical tradition, and the most genuinely excellent contemporary jazz musicians are creating the most genuinely important and the most genuinely original new music available.
The genre fusion: the most genuinely interesting and the most genuinely original contemporary jazz is the music that most genuinely engages with the most genuinely diverse range of musical traditions -- the jazz that draws on hip-hop, on electronic music, on the global music traditions of Africa, Latin America, and Asia, on the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely diverse musical inheritances of the most genuinely diverse communities that the most genuinely excellent contemporary jazz musicians come from. This most genuinely specific engagement with the most genuinely diverse musical traditions creates the most genuinely original and the most genuinely vital contemporary jazz available.
We are at 260 Carlaw Avenue, Unit 202AA, in Leslieville, Toronto. Live jazz evenings in our space are among the most genuinely beautiful and the most genuinely intellectually rich events we host. The warm acoustic character of our loft, the intimacy of the space, and the genuine care we bring to every aspect of the live music environment create the most genuinely excellent conditions for the most genuinely excellent jazz performance available in Toronto. We look forward to every jazz evening that creates the most genuine musical beauty, the most genuine improvisation, and the most genuinely excellent shared experience in our space.
Jazz and the Collaborative Spirit
The most genuinely important dimension of jazz is perhaps the most genuinely simple to describe and the most genuinely difficult to create: the spirit of genuine collaboration -- the specific quality of mutual listening, mutual respect, and mutual creative generosity that the most genuinely excellent jazz ensembles bring to every performance.
The listening imperative: jazz musicians describe their most essential skill not as the ability to play but as the ability to listen -- the most genuinely active and the most genuinely specific listening that allows each musician to respond most appropriately and most specifically to what the other musicians are doing at each most specific moment. The jazz ensemble that listens most genuinely is the ensemble that plays most excellently, and the live jazz performance that most genuinely communicates this quality of listening creates the most genuinely moving and the most genuinely affecting musical experience available.
The generosity of support: the most genuinely excellent jazz performances are characterized by a specific quality of musical generosity -- the pianist who comps most beautifully behind the soloist, creating the most genuinely rich and the most genuinely appropriate harmonic context; the bassist who walks most specifically and most beautifully, providing the most genuinely excellent rhythmic and harmonic foundation; the drummer who creates the most genuinely alive and the most genuinely responsive rhythmic environment. This specific quality of musical generosity is one of the most genuinely important and the most genuinely moving things available to hear in the live jazz context.
The Dinner Jazz Format
The combination of an excellent dinner and live jazz performance is one of the most genuinely classic and the most genuinely well-loved event formats available, and for genuinely excellent reasons.
The pacing harmony: the dinner jazz format works most specifically because the natural pacing of an excellent dinner -- the most genuinely unhurried progression from course to course, the most genuinely relaxed and the most genuinely convivial atmosphere that the best dinner creates -- is the most genuinely natural companion to the most genuinely unhurried and the most genuinely contemplative pace of the most genuinely excellent jazz performance. The dinner and the music create the most genuinely complete and the most genuinely mutually enhancing experience together that either would create alone.
The conversation and music balance: the most genuinely thoughtful dinner jazz events create the most genuinely appropriate balance between the musical experience and the conversational dimension -- the music is present enough to create the most genuinely beautiful and the most genuinely atmospheric backdrop but not so present as to overwhelm the conversation that is the most genuinely important social dimension of the dinner occasion. This balance is the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely important design challenge of the dinner jazz format, and the event that achieves it most genuinely creates the most genuinely excellent combination of musical and social experience.
The music-as-host role: in the dinner jazz context, the music performs a specific and genuinely important host function -- creating the most genuinely warm and the most genuinely welcoming atmosphere as guests arrive, managing the energy of the room through the most genuinely appropriate musical choices as the dinner progresses, and creating the most genuinely beautiful and the most genuinely memorable conclusion to the evening as guests depart. The music that performs this host function most genuinely is the music that contributes most specifically to the overall success of the dinner occasion.
We are at 260 Carlaw Avenue, Unit 202AA, in Leslieville, Toronto. The live jazz evenings we host in our space create some of the most genuinely beautiful and the most genuinely memorable events in our calendar. The warm acoustics of our loft, the intimate configuration of our space, and the genuine care we bring to every aspect of the live music environment create the most genuinely excellent conditions for the most genuinely excellent jazz performances. We look forward to every jazz evening that brings the most genuine musical beauty, the most genuine improvisation, and the most genuinely excellent shared musical experience to our space.
The Jazz and Social Change Connection
Jazz has been one of the most genuinely important musical expressions of the most genuinely specific struggle for social equality and human dignity in American and North American history, and this most genuinely important dimension of the tradition is part of what makes live jazz so genuinely resonant and so genuinely meaningful.
The freedom tradition: the specific freedom of jazz improvisation -- the music that cannot be fully notated, that cannot be fully controlled, that exists most fully only in the most genuinely spontaneous and the most genuinely individual creative act -- has always carried specific political and social resonance. The music that insists on the most genuinely individual and the most genuinely free creative expression has always been understood as a statement about human dignity and human freedom that extends far beyond the purely musical.
The integration history: jazz was the most genuinely integrated music of its era -- the specific music that brought together Black and white musicians in the most genuinely equal and the most genuinely collaborative creative relationship at a time when almost all other dimensions of American social life enforced the most genuinely rigid racial separation. This specific and genuinely important history of the jazz tradition as a site of racial integration and creative equality is one of the most genuinely important and the most genuinely significant dimensions of the music's cultural legacy.
Why Live Music Matters
The live jazz evening is ultimately an argument for the most genuinely specific and the most genuinely irreplaceable value of live music -- the specific quality of the genuinely present human musical performance that no recording, however excellent, can fully replicate.
The risk dimension: live music is genuinely risky in a way that recorded music is not -- the possibility of the missed note, the slightly rushed tempo, the most genuinely imperfect intonation is always present, and this possibility is part of what makes the live performance genuinely alive. The live jazz performance where something goes slightly wrong and is immediately and brilliantly recovered is often the most genuinely memorable and the most genuinely moving moment of the evening.
The unique occurrence: every live jazz performance is genuinely unrepeatable -- the most genuinely specific combination of the musicians' emotional states, the most genuinely specific energy of the room, and the most genuinely spontaneous creative decisions that are made in this specific moment at this specific performance create something that has never existed before and will never exist again. This specific quality of unique occurrence is the most genuinely irreplaceable and the most genuinely important thing that live music creates.
We are at 260 Carlaw Avenue, Unit 202AA, in Leslieville, Toronto. The live jazz evenings we host are among the most genuinely beautiful and the most genuinely intellectually rich events in our entire calendar. The warm acoustics of our loft, the intimacy of our space, and the genuine care we bring to every aspect of the live music environment all contribute to creating the most genuinely excellent conditions for the most genuinely excellent jazz performances. We look forward to every jazz evening that creates the most genuine musical beauty, the most genuine improvisation, and the most genuinely excellent shared musical experience in our space.
The Year-Round Jazz Calendar
The most genuinely excellent venues for live jazz create the most genuinely consistent and the most genuinely curated annual jazz program -- the specific calendar of events that creates the most genuinely loyal and the most genuinely engaged jazz audience over time.
The seasonal programming: the most genuinely thoughtful jazz programming attends to the specific seasonal character of the Toronto cultural calendar. The fall jazz series that launches the new cultural season, the winter jazz programs that create the most genuinely warm and the most genuinely inviting indoor music experiences during the most genuinely cold months, the spring jazz events that celebrate the return of the most genuinely warm weather and the most genuinely outdoor cultural energy -- these most genuinely seasonal programs create the most genuinely complete and the most genuinely appropriate year-round jazz experience.
The Toronto Jazz Festival relationship: the Toronto Jazz Festival -- one of the most genuinely significant and the most genuinely well-attended jazz festivals available in North America -- creates the most genuinely important and the most genuinely visible moment in the Toronto jazz calendar each summer. The venue that creates the most genuinely excellent relationship with the festival -- hosting the most genuinely excellent and the most genuinely complementary events during the festival period, connecting the most genuinely excellent local and visiting musicians with the most genuinely engaged and the most genuinely appreciative audience -- creates the most genuinely important contribution to the Toronto jazz ecosystem.
The musician relationships: the venue that creates the most genuinely excellent and the most genuinely lasting relationships with the most genuinely excellent local jazz musicians -- that provides the most genuinely regular and the most genuinely high-quality performance opportunities, the most genuinely appropriate fees, and the most genuinely warm and the most genuinely supportive performance environment -- creates the most genuinely excellent and the most genuinely sustainable jazz program. The jazz venue that musicians want to play is the jazz venue that consistently books the most genuinely excellent musicians and consistently creates the most genuinely excellent performances.
We are at 260 Carlaw Avenue, Unit 202AA, in Leslieville, Toronto. Live jazz in our space is a genuine privilege -- the specific combination of the warm acoustics of our loft, the intimacy of our configuration, the creative character of our neighborhood, and the genuine care we bring to every live music event creates the most genuinely excellent conditions for the most genuinely excellent jazz performances available in Toronto. We are grateful to every jazz musician who has performed in our space and to every audience member who has listened, and we look forward to every future jazz evening that creates the most genuine musical beauty, the most genuine improvisation, and the most genuinely excellent shared experience in our loft.
