Jazz relaxing

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

RELAXATION is not limited to watching a movie or having a nice day at the spa or baking under the sun at the beach. There is another way to this urban creature comfort.

One of the nicest places to meet up with friends, or simply to relax after a shopping spree, is Radisson Blu’s Lobby Lounge, right next to SM City Cebu.

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This huge hotel lobby has comfortable seating arrangements where it is actually possible to lounge in a secluded nook and have a sense of privacy while having coffee or tea, and perhaps a sandwich or pizza or even pasta. Perhaps one can opt for soda or try the house cocktails “uniquely infused with local flavors.”

The Lobby Lounge also has a daily afternoon Filipino merienda buffet, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., which makes it a great place to take balikbayan family and friends hankering for a taste of Filipino snack foods like bibingka, torta, fried bananas and sikwate.

On Friday and Saturday nights, the place can get really lively when the Four Seasons band takes center stage for the hotel’s “Jazz Nights.” The band’s manager, Albert Chua, says that the group is composed of Peter Valmores at the keyboards; Pete Ramido, drums; Roland Cornista, saxophone; Nicole Calderon, bass guitar; Jessie Calderon, timbale; and singers Zenaida Ompoc and Cris Aguilar. Saturday nights, the band is joined by another saxophonist, Remy Zafra. For those looking around for where jazz is played in the city, the lounge is it.

From 7 p.m. to midnight, the band plays easy listening music, from standard to oldies, ballroom, as well as Latin and Caribbean tunes. Whatever the beat or mood, the music from this band is never ear-shattering. It’s always pleasant to listen to, and drift in nostalgia.

They will also play songs on request, and when the beat is right, people make the lounge into a dance floor. To go with this musical offering Radisson Blu has a buffet of cocktail food guaranteed to make listening to the music even more pleasurable.

Some may get intimidated by the hugeness of this hotel lobby, but the hotel staff are around to make you feel this is the place to be.