Last night I went to Smalls Jazz Club downtown and heard Mike LeDonne on piano, John Webber on bass and Joe Farnsworth on drums. They are all at the top of their game, but it was Webber who drew me in with his magic hands flying up and down that bass, particularly on Birks Works. Webber's sound was dense and pulsating, unpredictable and soothing.
Birks Works is on a forthcoming duet album that LeDonne and Webber recorded in Italy earlier this year.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
New Stuff
My blog is changing . . . while I am searching for the right place to re-start a weekly jazz night, I am going out to hear the great musicians and their music that I have fallen in love with, and I will be writing about my experience here. I knew very little about jazz when I first started promoting over a year ago. My background is in the theater as a writer and performer. What I found in the musicians I met is a group of artists who are relentlessly dedicated to the live experience, the chance to play, the connection with their audience.
Last night I stopped by Smoke where Mike LeDonne was playing along with Peppe Merolla on drums, Dwayne Burno on bass, and Andrew Beals on sax. LeDonne killed it on 'Round Midnight. Andrew introduced Mike, the room got still, and there was just the piano. It was simple, clean, inviting, then a rupture full of heart and abandon happened that tore away any lingering walls. I turned to the guy next to me, a complete stranger, to see if he was feeling it too, and he looked back and just said, "Yeah." It's the live experience I crave -- hot, serious commitment to the expression of the truest part of our human experience. It burrows deep into you and at the same time sets you free to be right there, not thinking about the moment before or the next one to come.
Last Saturday I heard One For All play their last set of the night featuring my good friends, Eric Alexander on sax and Joe Farnsworth on drums. Eric brought his muscular, elegant sound to Michael Jackson's "She's Out of My Life." It was a stunner. I wait for Joe's drum solos every time I go to hear him play and he didn't disappoint. His controlled, brilliant havoc was riveting. I never know where he is going or what is going to happen next, but I'm on the edge of my seat taking the ride with him. http://www.smokejazz.com/ Wednesday night I will be at Smalls.
Last night I stopped by Smoke where Mike LeDonne was playing along with Peppe Merolla on drums, Dwayne Burno on bass, and Andrew Beals on sax. LeDonne killed it on 'Round Midnight. Andrew introduced Mike, the room got still, and there was just the piano. It was simple, clean, inviting, then a rupture full of heart and abandon happened that tore away any lingering walls. I turned to the guy next to me, a complete stranger, to see if he was feeling it too, and he looked back and just said, "Yeah." It's the live experience I crave -- hot, serious commitment to the expression of the truest part of our human experience. It burrows deep into you and at the same time sets you free to be right there, not thinking about the moment before or the next one to come.
Last Saturday I heard One For All play their last set of the night featuring my good friends, Eric Alexander on sax and Joe Farnsworth on drums. Eric brought his muscular, elegant sound to Michael Jackson's "She's Out of My Life." It was a stunner. I wait for Joe's drum solos every time I go to hear him play and he didn't disappoint. His controlled, brilliant havoc was riveting. I never know where he is going or what is going to happen next, but I'm on the edge of my seat taking the ride with him. http://www.smokejazz.com/ Wednesday night I will be at Smalls.
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