Sketchcrawl #54 – ChinaTown, NYC – January 28, 2017
We had close to 20 SketchCrawlers out for the Chinese New Year (of the Rooster). Couldn’t really get too close to the festivities, soooo crowded, but that was no impediment to the sketching. After a few hours out in the blustery cold we retired to the accommodating Empanada Mama restaurant, sketched each other, and took turns showing the work of the day.
Busking NYC – Muammer Aryar / Grupo Wayno – January 12, 2017
Two sets of buskers in the subway today; a solo and an enemble. Muammer performed at Union Square station. And Grupo Wayno, a trio, was at Herald Square, a reliable standby location; at first I thought the name was some kind of goof, but it turns out that “Wayno” is a variant of “huayno”, an Andean music genre, associated with the Quechua people. They all had pre-recorded tracks as accompaniment, a practice that I, the purist snob, have long derided on this blog. These days it’s just the way of the world, at least in the busk world. I can still enjoy. I definitely did not have enough colors with me to do justice to the serapes of the Grupo, astoundingly chromatic, I just threw whatever I had onto the paper.
Muammer
Luis Vilcherrez
Kitsa-to
Jaime
Triton Brass Quintet – St. Paul’s Chapel – January 12, 2017
This concert (new venue for me) was part of Trinity Wall Street’s “Time’s Arrow” series, celebrating the 250th anniversary of SPC, the oldest surviving church building in Manhattan. The quintet adhered to no dogmatic genre limitations, and was all over the place, much to my liking. The brief opener, a charming “Mini Overture” by Lutoslawski, was written as a birthday present for his wife. An arrangement of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” closed the concert; that tune does get around!
Shelagh Abate and Wesley Hopper
Andrew Sorg and Stephen Banzaert
Angel Subero
Triton Brass Quintet
Out of the Blue – Coyote Joe’s, Charlotte – December 21, 2016
Down South doin’ some visiting. Our niece’s boyfriend is in the house band for the local honky-tonk. We didn’t participate in any of the line dancing, but there sure was plenty of it to watch!
Jim Lincomfelt
Tracy Curry
Tim Jones
Ben Davenport
Chris Williams
Busking NYC – Dexter Jones – December 15, 2016
Jones had a full repertoire of Christmas songs to brighten up the Columbus Circle station, so I stayed past a few trains to give him my best.
Dexter Jones
Tribute to Alfred Mann – Manhattan School of Music – December 11, 2016
Philanthropist Alfred Mann, who passed away earlier this year, was a great benefactor of the MSM; he was honored with this concert.
Mark Steinberg
Nicholas Mann
David Geber
Busking NYC – Quoom – November 15, 2016
Busking in the subway station, on the platform, OK I get it. Banging your conga drum inside the moving train? What a life! Quoom was only on for one stop, I’m not sure how much of a response he was expecting. Certainly not mine!
Quoom
Manhattan School of Music Jazz Orchestra – Neidorff-Karpati Hall – November 11, 2016
This was the final concert presentation at MSM for program leader Justin DiCioccio (although the following Monday the Orch will be playing the same program at Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola); much beloved JD is retiring at the end of the year. The sketch included here is from a different gig; at this MSM event DiCioccio restricted himself to conducting the orchestra with guest (and NEA Jazz Master) Dave Liebman. The oeuvre was a “recomposition” of the classic Gil Evans/Miles Davis album collaboration, “Miles Ahead.” Liebman showed why he is a master, soloing his way through, channeling Miles with the soprano sax (and a brief stint with some small whistley thing I wasn’t nimble enough to catch). Despite neither piano nor guitar here, the Evans tonal palette is rich, and not stinted on, including French horns, tuba, multiple bass clarinets, and alto flute, aside from the usual suspects.
Dave Liebman
Kushal Talele
Michael Brinzer
Oriol Valles
Justin DiCioccio
Escher String Quartet – Vassar College, Skinner Hall – November 6, 2016
The quartet program included works by Mozart, Bartók, and then a quintet (add Crow’s piano) of Dvorák. (Sorry Anton, all those different accents available, but not the correct one for your “o”!) Somehow I got the start time incorrect, and arrived so late that I missed the first piece (sorry Wolfgang!). I stood in the back for the high priority Bartók (string quartet #2), sublime. It was composed during the first world war, and had a melancholy wtf vibe that I find common to pieces created under such circumstances of duress. Finally got a seat for the quintet after intermission. Two sketches of the complete ensemble were on facing pages in the book, combined here for a composite.
Manhattan School of Music Afro-Cuban Jazz Orchestra – Neidorff-Karpati Hall November 4, 2016
Once again Bobby Sanabria has whipped his student charges into shape (including getting them all dressed up) for an evening of new pieces or new arrangements of canonical masters (Wes Montgomery, Elmo Hope). The ensemble had no shortage of energy, the evening boasting a sustained dynamic tasteful and powerful groove. Many of the new compositions/arrangements were by MSM alumni (and one by a current AFJO member); quite a number were in attendance, and each of these was brought to the stage to bask in audience appreciation. As usual, Sanabria extends the eduational mission to the audience by providing background on the music and its historical context, and his sterling showmanship – he dances, he chants, he bangs timbale LOUD, he barks like a dog – is always part of the package.
Toby Ekpunobi and Armando Vergara
Luis Vazquez - Takao Heisho - Noel Mason
Rico Jones
Matt Wong
Nicola Caminiti
Tyler Tritt
Cole Hazlitt
Santosh Sharma
