'When music was music'
<p>Betty Woodward, a resident of Garden Plaza, dances with friend Bill Ladner during a performance of “Under My Skin” by Taste of Jazz Friday at the Post Falls assisted and independent living facility. The pair, both 84, have been dancing together for about 20 years.</p>
<p>Dave Steele plays the trumpet during a Tast of Jazz performance at Garden Plaza.</p>
<p>Mary Ann Taibe, vocalist with Taste of Jazz, performs “They Can’t Take that Away from Me.”</p>
POST FALLS - As the band began to play another song, 84-year-old Bill Ladner's eyes lit up and his eyebrows lifted.
"This is calling," he said, referring to the 1930s tune, Cole Porter's "I've Got You Under My Skin."
Ladner, of Post Falls, prepared to dance another round with his dance partner, Betty Woodward, 84, during the "Friends and Family" event at the Garden Plaza senior living community in Post Falls. Ladner and Woodward have been dancing together for 20 years and they enjoyed another opportunity to show off their West Coast swing style early Friday evening.
"There's a whole lot of people that claimed they introduced us, but we introduced ourselves," Ladner said. "We found out that we dance well together and we've been partners ever since."
Ladner said he and Woodward have synchronization and really enjoy dancing to the old-time, big band sound. Woodward said she loves it. But is Ladner a good dancer?
"Oh, wonderful," Woodward said with a fond smile and clap.
The seven-piece band, A Taste of Jazz, played an hour of golden oldies from the 1930s and 1940s along with some Dixieland as nearly 80 Garden Plaza tenants and their loved ones tapped their feet or cut a rug in the middle of the Clay Larkin Room.
Mary Ann Taibi, 76, of Hayden, has provided vocals for the band for several years. She has been singing since she was a little girl, when she and her father used to harmonize together. She said she and the band really enjoy playing for the seniors at Garden Plaza.
"We love it, because they enjoy it," she said. "We play the music they remember way back when, when music was music."
Dave Steele, 74, of Bayview is the band leader of A Taste of Jazz. He plays the trumpet, which he played as a young man and rediscovered at the age of 65.
"It's incredible," he said. "There's an energy that comes out of this group. It's music they can identify with and love. And they have an energy that is just awesome. It's just gratifying to play."
Beverly Browne, of Post Falls, calls herself the "self-appointed president of the A Taste of Jazz fan club." She said she admires the way the band's music moves the people in the audience.
"Even if they can't dance, they've got smiles on their faces and they're tapping their feet or tapping on the table," she said. "You just can't take music out of people; it's just in us, and I'm so thankful."
The plaza provides entertainment for its tenants and their families each Friday. A Taste of Jazz has played the venue once before, earlier this year.