Wineries (Santa Cruz) – August 5, 2016
On first Fridays, as part of the city’s overall festivities (open galleries and such), some of the wineries stationed in Santa Cruz are open for tastings. A few have live entertainment to entice.
Rick Rasay
Carol Ismail & Marc Singer
Joshua Raoul Brody – Rite Spot Cafe – August 2, 2016
Simple concept: ditch the karaoke machine, use live musicians, restrict it to the Beatles catalog. Now consider the execution: someone needs to know, and be able to play, all those songs. But wait there’s more: accompany on keys, accommodate an extreme diversity of singers, making them feel comfortable, including shifting key to match the vocal range, following instructions to adjust tempo or other quirk according to preference. And sing harmony and backup vocals (drummer Norfleet no slouch in this department either), and lead the audience in singalong. Not so simple now, eh? But that’s my buddy Joshua, can do all of these things and MC the whole shebang. I chose “I Am The Walrus”, but if we go by whiskers, well, the walrus is Joshua.
Joshua Raoul Brody
Dave Norfleet
Moises Salazar – Wells Park, Brewster – July 31, 2016
Two new instrument sketch firsts for me – the zampoña (Andean pan pipes) and the charanga – in my own home town. It’s a reflection of the reality of the changing local demographics (not a word of the concert was in English); I finally get some music out of it. There was a pre-recorded accompaniment rather than a full band, but not a major issue for me.
Moises Salazar
Jhon Pinos
Jose Tenezaca
David Amram – Putnam County Fair – July 30, 2016
Amram’s career is chock full of interesting connected dots from around the world, including as a Hollywood screen composer. He’s Putnam-County local, a beatnik who never stopped and never stopped being hip. I’d been wanting to capture him for a while, but plans fell victim to unfortunate scheduling numerous times, so finally! I found out about this gig only a few hours before it was to happen, and had enough crease in my time for me to make it. Fortuitously, the rain held off long enough to allow me to finish up, although the originals had a few smudges from the raindrop impacts. The music was mostly jazz. Amram’s thoroughly charming and peripatetic interspersed musings from his time way back in the day show what an important cultural icon he is, with links to the likes of Charlie Parker, the beatnik scene, and Bob Dylan.
David Amram
Rene Hart
Joe Aebig
Kevin Twigg
Myrna Hague – Marcus Garvey Park – July 29, 2016
Hague, “Jamaica’s first lady of jazz”, was the focus of this Jazzmobile gig, co-sponsored by the Jamaica Tourism Board. The opener was Trevor “Bridges” Bridgewater (my first steel pan!) playing to prerecorded accompaniment (not my favorite arrangement). He checked all the boxes for cliché Jamaican music, including Bob Marley’s “Waiting in Vain”, a song that was actually part of my own performance repertoire for a while. His chops were there, so no major beef. Patience Higgins led the backup combo for Hague, who was in fine form with a bunch of jazz/pop standards. And guess which Marley song she covered here; there’s a lot of it going around. I guess it’s now a (welcome) part of the canon.
Myrna Hague
Marco Panascia
Patience Higgins
Marcus Persiani
Desi Jones
Trevor Bridgewater
Akiko Tsuruga Quartet – Grant’s Tomb – July 27, 2016
Sometimes a seeming anomaly works out to be totally charming, and that is Tsuruga. She fell in love with jazz organ, came to NYC from Japan, studied with the masters, and boom, there it is, worthy of a Jazzmobile gig (the latter is saying a lot).
Akiko Tsuruga
Joe Magnarelli
Jerry Weldon
Joel Spencer
Cavatina Quartet – Museum of Modern Art, Summergarden – July 24, 2016
A new venue for me, MOMA’s outdoor sculpture garden. And of course, for a program assembled by Juilliard’s Joel Sachs, “new music” aplenty for the student players.
Joel Sachs
Randall Goosby
Jameel Martin
Mariella Haubs
Jia Kim
Folklore Urbano Quintet – Pierson Park – July 22, 2016
Ringleader Mayor leads the combo through various genres of Columbian music, folk and otherwise. There are various conformations of the group, here a quintet; in other settings, up to twelve with horns, which must be stunning.
Pablo Mayor
Nestor Gomez
Maria Alejandra Jiminez
David Hertzberg
Franco Pina
Ta Pethia Orchestra – St. George Greek Orthodox Church – July 16, 2016
I spent some family time out on Cape Cod, and looked up the Grecian Festival, where Ta Pethia had the gig. I was hoping for grilled octopus, but settled for lamb shank – mmmm! Plus the rice approximated the stuff my grandmother used to make. Clarinetist Kafasis spent a fair amount of time out in the middle of the festive circular dancing audience members.
Chuck Koustas
Demitri Varetimos
Jim Kafasis
John Papadonis
Ross Richardson
Fat Joe – Crotona Park – July 6, 2016
Circumstances put me out in Crotona Park waaaay early for this gig, so I had the best view in the house, up against the barrier. DJ Tony Touch on for a bit (no, make that waaay) longer than I needed, and of course much too loud, stalling for the tardy Fat Joe. When the big man came on he was accompanied by a cohort of other rappers, including Remy Ma, immensely popular with the crowd of homies. There was a mad rush of mostly young chicks, some insisting on getting in front of me. Closest I’ve been to a mosh pit, with the bigass chick in front of me twerking her butt into me big time. Sketching became impossible, making me nearly the only person not recording the event, as everyone else’s I-phone was in the air. Amongst all the gangsta trappings and posings, there were several inspirational songs promoting unity, hope, and such.
Fat Joe
Tony Touch
DJ for Fat Joe
Grandmaster Caz
Rapper w Fat Joe
