Music Safari NYC2025: Week two
The music week in New York City starts on Tuesday with Mona's traditional jazz night.
Week 2, Day 1: This week at Mona's, Jen Hodge (bass, not shown) led the house band. Here we have Jesse Gelber on piano, Simon Wettenhall on trumpet, Jay Rattman on reeds, and Josh Dunn on banjo and guitar.
The band was hot, playing significantly more old chestnuts than the week before. The room was a bit subdued - in this photo you can actually see a few square inches of floor.
Jen Hodge did an excellent job playing and band leading.
Jesse Gelber had hot hands.
The house band quits at midnight. The late-night pianist - usually Jon Weber, shown above - takes over and leads the guest musicians. Last Tuesday, the only guest musician was Rafael Castillo-Halvorssen. The piano-trumpet thing worked, and Rafael got to sing a few too.
Week 2, Day 2: The one gig of the evening was something like an enhanced book launch for April Masten's Diamond and Juba: The Raucous World of 19th-Century Challenge Dancing. Three musicians I admire participated. Dewitt Flemming, Jr., came with a Gordon Webster combo several months ago. Hubby Jenkins did a solo show in Woods Hole too. Gabe Terracciano has been in Woods Hole several times . . .
Hubby Jenkins talks about the banjo.
DeWitt Flemming, Jr. shows off some of the most complicated steps I've ever seen him try.
Week 2, Day 3: The Lysander Trio at the Caspary Auditorium of Rockefeller University. I don't usually go to classical music events, but somehow I got on the Peggy Rockefeller Concerts list, and this one had several things going for it. First, the program included Schonberg's Verklarte Nacht, one of the first classical pieces I ever appreciated, even as a teenager. Second, I read that the Peggy Rockefeller Concerts were first started by scientist Teddy Shedlovsky, who was my parents' friend in the 1960s in Woods Hole.
The concert was both magical and heroic, featuring a piece by Beethoven, a piece by a composer I never heard of, Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), and the Shonberg. The musicians were Itamar Zorman (violin), Lisa Stepanova (piano) and James Kim (cello). Zorman was playing a 1734 Guarneri violin.
Week 2, Day 4: The Red Pavilion bills itself as an Asian Neo-Noir Nightclub. Gordon Au alerted me to the Friday event exploring the connection between American jazz and the contemporaneous Shanghai jazz scene. The Red Pavilion Jazz Band played some new-to-me Chinese jazz tunes, and some Songbook songs with Chinese references, e.g., Chinatown My Chinatown, and Limehouse Blues. The Limehouse district, I learned, was London's Chinatown. Both tunes originally had racist lyrics. The musicians include musicians I know, like Gordon Au on trumpet, Glenn Crytzer on guitar, and Jen Hodge on bass. The new-to-me musicians include Jiani Zhou on vocals and Jade Elliott on reeds.
Unfortunately, as the evening progressed, it became harder to hear anything . . .
As I was getting ready to leave, some velvet ropes dropped from the ceiling, and this muscular, scantily clad lady did acrobatics. Gordon telle me her name was Eme, of Subtle Asian Polers.
Week 2, Day 5: Aurora Nealand performed at the DiMenna Center for Classical Music near Hudson Yards as part of a program of experimental music called, "Wet Ink."
She sang, she played, she turned some dials to change the music, she percussed on a big bass drum. I've seen Aurora's experimental stuff before. You can't expect familiar melodies or even coherent patterns - and I wasn't. You just have to let it wash over you and take what you can absorb. I'm looking forward to her more traditional stuff, which is also creative as all get-out, but a lot more conventionally musical.
Week 2, Day 6, Gig 1: Kayla and Kerry Lewis, with Ilya Lushtak on guitar, were the first band on The Vintage Train Event. It's a great tradition, well, it is becoming a tradition. Every year in December, they run an antique subway train from the 1930s from the Second Avenue F station up to the 96th Street Q stop. At 96th Street several bands play jazz from the era. The Lewis band was the first one. I wanted to stay for Nick Russo's Schootches, but I hadda run.
Amy Winn inspired, and now organizes the Vintage Train event. At first, it was just an informal pop-up with a dance band on a subway platform. The MTA Transit Museum liked it, made it an official event, and added an antique train.
Now the event has been adopted by a cosplay group, dressing up in early 20th Century garb. I met them on the uptown antique train. Taisha asked if she could take a selfie with me. Be still my heart!
OK, OK I haven't seen Spider Man. The guy on the left is some kind of character from that story. The guy on the right was also dressed in period garb.
Week 2, Day 6, Gig 2: Neal and I went to Jalopy for a bunch of original - and mostly iconoclastic or parody - Christmas songs. The 13-musician ensemble was led by Kurt Hoffman and Meg Reichardt, who also lead the send-up 1920s-stule jazz group, Les Chaud Lapins. The songs had titles like, What If They Canceled Christmas, and Santa Claus and Father Christmas Had a Fight.
Week 2, Day 6, Gig 3: The Sunday night Ear-Regular gig at The Ear Inn. Tal Ronen on bass, Felix Lemerle on guitar, Jay Rattman on bari sax, Jon Erik Kellso on cornet. Joe, the manager/maitre d' at the door.
Week 2, Day 7, Gig 1: Spike Wilner Trio at Mezzrow. Spike is one of the most important people in jazz today. His piano playing is just lovely - he has a strong melodic right hand and a perfectly complementary left. He founded Smalls, which is now an institution and a bit of a shrine, and then founded Mezzrow a few years ago, just across the street. He's got the two clubs working as a team. His newsletters during the pandemic were a from-the-heart lifeline. Word on the street is that he's buying a much bigger club in midtown.
Spike's trio had Paul Gill on bass and Alex Kushnir on drums.
Week 2, Day 7, Gig 2: Monas Bluegrass Night was hot! Way hotter than usual. They absolutely nailed the three-part harmonies. Their instrumentals were over the top. he night was as good as bluegrass gets. That's Christian Apuzzo on guitar, unknown on violin, unknown (Alex?) on mandolin, Max Johnson on bass (and the boy could sing!) and Gabe Terracciano on violin.
Chris Luquette (mando) joins Christian Apuzzo and Max Johnson in three-part harmony. Great trio. Really. World class stuff.
