Slo Jo and the Mojo At the Laguna del Cocodrilo

La Laguna de Cocodrilo has been a Tamarindo home base for a lot of visiting musicians for their Friday Jazz Nights. But there is a local band that got their start at this beach night spot. Slo Jo & the Mojo is a trio who all have “day jobs”. They got their start at Cocodrilo, so it was fitting that they played their final gig there as well, before their self-induced hiatus. The band’s regular guitarist, Brian Burback, had already returned to Canada for the off-season and was ably replaced by local guitar vet Lyle Watson. Vocalist Erin plans to travel to New York and Colorado during her vacation from Tamarindo. “I can’t believe I’ve been here for nine months,” she told me. “It’s like we’ve given birth to this band!” Erin plans to return in November and pick up where they left off. Saxophonist and long time Tamarindo resident Brad Schmidt told me he had no musical plans during the downtime and would just “play it by ear”.

So the band tore it up all night, doing memorable renditions of “Iko Iko” and “Steamroller Blues”. They played far into the night and with an unrestrained repoire between the band members on display. They walked off the stage after midnight, leaving the audience a reason to come back after the rainy season.

Proprietors Ben and Dylan told me this would be the last official Friday Jazz Night of the season but they plan to continue their traditional Acoustic Saturday night shows, giving us all a reason to return soon.