#dizzys

I attended the Unity Festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center on January 10 and 11, 2025. Its headlines for me were Rachel and Vilray, and Tatiana Eva-Marie and the Avalon Jazz Band. But there were a bunch of folks I didn't know, and I was ready for surprises. Wow, Domo Branch and his quintet was beyond surprising. They were the single best thing I saw all weekend!

Domo Branch himself was awesome on the drums. And then he got even better. (I am delighted to see him on the gig with Catherine Russell at Birdland next week with a band of heavy hitters!)

Vocalist Imani Rousselle had it all. And gave it 100%.

Abdias Armenteros played the sax like an old soul. They said he was the youngest-ever regular member of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra.

Dabin Ryu, Domo's piano player, was like she'd been hanging out in jazz clubs since she was three. The perfect fill, the right solo, all there at exactly the right time.

[This post covers January 8, 9, 10, 11.]

Monday, January 8 . . . The Yes Trio at Dizzy's . . .

Aaron Goldberg at the piano, Omer Avital on bass, and Ali Jackson on percussion.

The playing was extraordinarily interactive and collaborative. There were remarkably few "solos."

Frequently the instruments played in dialog, or trialog. It was obvious that these guys have played together for over 30 years.

Tuesdays in NYC are synonymous with Monas! On Tuesday, January 9, the house band was epic.

This is Evan Christopher, distinguished New Orleans visitor Duke Heitger, Rossano Sportiello and Jon-Erik Kellso. Also in the house band, birthday boy Tal Ronen and band leader pro tempore Josh Dunn.

Rossano and I are good friends.

Bass player Tal turned 43 at that gig. Singing, cake, candles, and the whole works.

The music was extraordinary. Evan Christopher's clarinet was over the top, and with Kellso's trumpet, they rattled the roof. I spent most of the night looking at the back of Josh Dunn's head, but that did not diminish my appreciation for his subtle, well-rounded, imaginatively crafted guitar playing. Rossano's piano playing mostly stayed back, in a support role. He finally leaned into it for the last few songs. Tal's bass was excellent, as always.

Two essential people were missing from the festivities. Aidan Grant was out sick, and Dennis Lichtman was in New Orleans. I missed them.

On Wednesday, January 10, the biggest game was out in the Brooklyn jungle - The Big Lazy with special guest Katie Martucci were playing at LunÁtico.

The Big Lazy. L to R, that's Katie Martucci on vocals, Yuval Lion on percussion, Andrew Hall on bass and band leader Steve Ulrich on guitar.

Imagine the music of Dick Dale and Duane Eddy transposed into the information age. Twang-on-twang. The guitar work of Steve Ulrich was remarkably captivating.

Josh Dunn , the leader of the Mona's jam last Tuesday, showed up at The Big Lazy's gig. I never got a good shot of him that night, but now, here he is!

On Thursday, January 11, at Neal's strong suggestion, we went to Sxip Shirey's Hour of Charm at Joe's Pub.

It was more than a set or a gig. It was a revue. In addition to Sxip (pronounced "skip" I think), included vocalist and composer Priya Darshini, cabaret power couple John Coons and Matta Aument, dancer Coco Karol, vocalist Aimee Curl, vocalist Raquel Klein, guitar innovator Asher Kuntz, John Altieri on tuba, etc., and Attis Clopton on drums.

Aimee Curl has a voice I want to hear again!

There was too much going on for me to digest it all. So I'm going to quote from the Joe's Pub publicity.

Shirey tests the edge of music using his vast imagination to create playful and mischievous songs using familiar objects, mutant instruments, electronics and reconfigured sounds. He is a curious combination of composer/ sound designer/ performer meets storyteller/ curator.

John Coons was channeling something I'm just not hip enough, or gay enough, or young enough, or urban enough to get. Mostly. What I could understand of his shtick/poetry/song/standup performance was, yeah, bang-on. Like, maybe, naughty Freddy Mercury playing a small room.

For the grand finale, Sxip did this piece with a harmonica played through a dozen pedals, a bullhorn that made siren and other cop-car noises, and a tuba. It was a caricature of New York City's sonic landscape that rang true. WOW. Or as Sxip might say, "Holy F**k."

"We're not done yet," said Neal. We hopped over to Foxtail, a quiet, upscale bar in the West Village. The house band was "old home."

That's Bria Skonberg and Mike Davis on trumpets, with Conal Fowkes on piano and Tal Ronen on bass.

The master of understatement, Kevin Dorn on drums, Tal on bass, Conal on keys.

Mike Davis, Tal in background.

Bria, playing for Molly Ryan and Kayla Lewis at the bar.

Kayla Lewis. When she sang, it felt like being in the presence of a Billie or an Ella. What a great singer. Kayla! Lewis! The Foxtail thing was simply, amazingly great. I felt like I'd been to church.

On Friday, January 12, the last day of my musical trek, Neal and I hit Joe's Pub for what was billed as a Bria Skonberg/Anat Cohen gig. It was actually two independent concerts, back to back.

Anat and her band were up first.

There were several choros and what sounded like a Monk tune. Each was merely a platform for Anat's incredible musical ideas. Each time I started to understand where she was going, she went off into a new, equally tantalizing dimension. I wish I had a recording.

That's Tal Mashiach on bass. The band also included Vitor Gonçalves on piano and accordion (see below), and James Shipp on percussion and vibraphone.

Vitor Gonçalves anchors an important corner of the Brazilian music community in NYC. His creative force complemented and spurred Anat's playing.

Up next, Bria Skonberg:

I only knew one other person in Bria's band - the awesome Mathis Picard on piano. I'll get you the other names . . . it was a killa band.

Mathis played one amazing solo.

Now I am going home. It's time. But it has been one helluva ride!

This morning Anat sent me this:

We had our normal breakfast and were quickly informed that our 1pm COVID test at the doctor’s was now at 2:45pm. We chose the doctor, thinking it would be better than the government hospital. S thinks that was a big mistake. Unlike the prior 14 COVID tests, we were told to lie down on an examination table. S was immediately suspicious. We were told each nostril would take 2 seconds. Dr Jellyfinger managed to stick this Qtip further up our noses than any previous nurse or doctor, and he did this in both nostrils. We have only had that once before, in the Maldives. S counted out loud 5 seconds per nostril. This was the worst of all of our COVID tests. Avoid Dr Jellyfinger. When S complained about the intrusiveness of the test, Dr Jellyfinger informed him he could have done it up the bum like the Chinese. S wondered if Dr Jellyfinger might have enjoyed that. We now think that underneath the calm and thoughtful exterior lies a sadist, think the Steve Martin dentist scene in Little Shop of Horrors.

Needing a stiff one and with nostrils still in pain, we headed down to the waterfront for a much needed drink. S had Long Island iced teas and J had frozen margaritas. We then headed to Dizzy’s, a well-known local pizza joint next to the Greek restaurant we visited last night. We heard that this place had the oldest wood-fired pizza oven in Camps Bay and were not disappointed. There is a wide variety of pizzas and you can build your own. The pizza crust is extremely thin and they even have low-carb crusts. The toppings and sauce go out to the edge of the pizza. We both loved our pizzas, but would have left off the caramelised onions. Oddly, they were extremely sweet and changed the taste profile.

We went to aperitivo hour(s) and then headed to bed. We learned that we are the only guests staying here for a while.