What do Taylor Swift, Martha Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Nancy Pelosi, and yours truly all have in common? We were all present at the TIME 100, Time magazine’s annual event honoring the world’s 100 most influential entertainers and world leaders of the year!

Of course I can’t count myself as a member of that lofty rank just yet but I did have the pleasure of playing for them with my ace quartet and creating an upbeat, classy vibe as they mingled and sipped Johnny Walker outside of the Appel room at the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle. Empire Entertainment was running the show and their crack AV team had the sound of the band perfectly filling the space. It was such a pleasure to look out from the stage and see the guests enjoying the great mix of upbeat jazz, blues, mambo and even surf rock that we played for them and at one point, Yalitza Aparicio, the star of Roma stopped by the stage to dance with her small entourage.

Afterwards, I couldn’t resist accepting a well-deserved scotch on the rocks and wandering around a bit just to see who I could see. I’m not much of a celebrity gawker but it was fun to see Remi Malek, Martha Stewart, Gayle King, Nancy Pelosi, Hasan Minhaj, Julianne Moore, Yalitzia, Fallon, as well as probably quite a few I didn’t recognize. I’m a bit bummed I didn’t see the Rock, though! Haha.

It’s always a pleasure to play for people and to find the right kind of music to create a great vibe for everyone. There’s something about a live band like Peter & the Master Keys that creates a mood in a way that piped in music never can and that’s why Empire Entertainment knew that it was worth it for an event like this.