On August 4, 2009, the first night of Jazz in the Park, there were terrible storms. The rain had stopped before 7pm so our photographer Bob Schmidt headed for Broad Ripple Park to see Rob Dixon. He found that the concert had been cancelled. He also found several trees that had been hit by lightning. The trees were scorched and large splinters of wood were flung about on the grass.

Cynthia Layne belted the tunes and shook Broad Ripple Park August 11, 2009. She has a soft side too. Feelings stirred deep inside when she delivered Beautiful Soul. When dark clouds rolled in and rain pelted, the group rotated their equipment and the audience moved to the shelter. With Rob Dixon on sax, Reggie Bishop on keyboard and Kenny Phelps on drums, Ms. Layne gave a powerful performance. The lyrics of Be You, alone, are worth buying the CD beautiful soul. Find it at owlstudios.com.

The last concert of the 2009 series starts at 7 p.m. on August 25, 2009, with Indianapolis favorite, Bill Lancton.