Sag Harbor - Just as the temperature got a bit colder on the streets of Sag Harbor last Saturday night at around 6 p.m., things inside Canio's Books on Main Street were starting to heat up. As part of their "Saturday's At Six" event series, Canio's invited long-time friends and natives of the Hamptons, Steve Shaughnessy of Sag Harbor on upright bass and Tom DePetris of Bridgehampton by way of Saugerties, NY, on guitar, to come and perform a mélange of classic jazz tunes as well as some of the duo's original compositions.

As part of their "Saturday's At Six" event series, Canio's Books invited long-time friends and natives of the Hamptons, Steve Shaughnessy and Tom DePetris to come and perform a mélange of classic jazz tunes as well as some of the duo's original compositions. Photo by Colin M. Graham

Many of the audience members knew Steve and Tom from their days playing in various local bands at former popular music venues like the St. James Hotel and The Roadhouse, and chatted easily with the musicians in the intimate space.

The pair started off their set with the song "Alone Together" before moving on to "There Is No Greater Love" by Isham Jones into which Shaughnessy and DePetris infused a little samba. With the audience and the musicians suitably loosened up after the first two songs, the rapport between the seats and stage evolved into a playful banter. "We always feel kind of funny in these types of situations because usually our playing has to compete with a lot of background noise", quipped Shaughnessy, "so if someone could turn on a pina colada machine, it would help us feel at home."

Next came a lovely Duke Ellington number before the pair moved into their first original tune of the evening, "A Space In Time" by DePetris, which was being performed for the first time in public. After another classic Ellington piece, Shaughnessy and DePetris played a song from their days on the local music scene entitled "King Charles' Song," a really fun and energetic tune consisting of a great, funky bass line and guitar intro that playfully dipped into more traditional sounding jazz riffs before returning to a toe tapping rhythm and soulful funky melody.

By this time the audience was well into the performance, calling out song requests or asking the musicians questions between songs. Shaughnessy and DePetris were obviously having fun up on the small stage at Canio's and it was written all over their faces as they jammed into Nina Simone's "Tell It Like It Is," a song with a bluesy rock feel at points coupled with an ephemeral, spacey sound achieved by some masterful string bending by DePetris.

Watching the seamless exchange that took place as the two performed, a question arose as to how they practiced with each other seeing as they now live roughly 200 miles apart, and their answer, which was surprising yet somewhat obvious, was that they don't practice together. "We've known each other and played together for such a long time that there is just naturally a lot of interplay between us," Shaughnessy explained. "We just practice individually and are able to bring it together when we play."

After a little over an hour on stage, DePetris and Shaughnessy launched into their final song of the night, an old Sonny Rollins instrumental with a sprinkling of calypso flavor called "St. Thomas." "A little something to take with you as you go off into the night," said Shaughnessy. "Traveling music" added DePetris with a smile. All in all, it was a finger-snapping finale for a wonderful and intimate performance.