Photo Flash: Acute Inflections A JAZZY LOVE AFFAIR Woos and Romances Crowd at The Triad

We parked the car and started to make our way to the Triad Theater on West 72nd Street on Saturday evening, February 12th; my wife and I noticed that the pedestrian traffic on the streets of the Upper West Side of Manhattan seemed a little quiet. We were surprised, since it was the first sixty-degree day of 2022 and, generally, that gets everyone out and about. I think we chalked it up to everyone being someplace celebrating with their Valentine, a few days early. I was looking forward to sharing a wonderful evening with my wife, listening to the sounds of Acute Inflections - A Jazzy Love Affair, which she described as a "working date night" on her social media post from the venue. For us, the evening ended up somewhere in the middle of those two descriptions.

The duo of Elasea Douglas and Sadiki Pierre make up Acute Inflections, and their jazz music is so wonderful to listen to. Sadiki is a bassist - that is the only musical instrument for the evening - and eL (how she introduced herself to the sold-out audience, and how it was presented on their press released-setlist) is the vocalist. Together they create sounds so pleasing and full that you forget that there are no drums, piano, or any other musician filling the air of the theater or taking up space on a fully candle lit stage.

The evening's setlist was dedicated to love songs and romance, which certainly set the mood for all the couples in the audience that evening. Maybe the music was extra romantic that evening since Acute Inflections was also celebrating their 10-year anniversary as a couple. With their own jazzy take on a wide variety of genres like Whitney Houston ("I Will Always Love You"), The Cure ("Lovesong"), Prince ("Kiss"), George Gershwin ("Summertime"), Bee Gees ("How Deep Is Your Love"), and a Blackstreet ("No Diggity"), there was much hand holding, arms around sweethearts, and even some dancing in the aisles. Acute Inflections included a nice blend of original songs, such as "Come Out Love" and "All'' - which got some audience participation by way of some sing-along action. It was through some truly loving banter that the audience got to know the journey of the duo's relationship but also the musical journey that led them to the top of the jazz charts and the TV show theme song for the Discovery+ series The Great Soul Food Cook-Off.

This reporter recommends keeping an eye out for the group's performances in the tri-state area and asking a significant other to join you for a beautiful evening of jazz.

---Tom Salus

Find great shows to see at the Triad website HERE.

Acute Inflections has a website HERE.

Thomas Salus is a New Jersey/New York-based photographer specializing in theater and sports photography. For close to ten years, Tom has been providing his photo talents to community and larger regional theaters, supporting their productions, and highlighting the performers through his images. In addition to theater, he works with area professional, college, and high schools sport teams to capture the action on their stages. Tom has worked with New York-based Cabaret artists, freelanced for local newspapers, and worked with organizations like Little League International. Tom's photography started when he and his wife Kelly were raising their four children and capturing moments of their theater and sports accomplishments. Tom is excited to be working with Broadway World as a contributing photographer and getting the opportunity to photograph some of the most amazing talent in that artistic community. Thomas Salus can be found on Instagram HERE and at his website HERE.

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