Tactus – December 10, 2015

Posted on December 26, 2015 by parker

Tactus  –  Manhattan School of Music  –  December 10, 2015

Tactus is (or seems to be) less a group than a collective within the Manhattan School that features music of the 20th and 21st century; here the focus was on solos and duos.  Gleicher & Daurelle was the only duo I got, the other four were solos.  With only one number per, there was no time for dilly-dallying, and some of the portrayals (especially the duo!) are most cursory.

Isabel Lepanto Gleicher

Brian Daurelle

Molly Germer

Ruston Ropac

Samuel Zagnit

Adrian Blanco

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

MSM Jazz Arts Combos – December 10

Posted on December 26, 2015 by parker

Jazz Arts Combos  –  Manhattan School of Music  –  December 10

The exact designation of these student groups is lacking, as there were neither a written program nor clear formal introductions.  So all I can say is that the two groups shared the drummer and they both grooved.  Sometimes the way a sketch works out, the top of someone’s head is not included, as in Benjamin’s; thus the amusement at visiting his site and finding that even less of his head is shown in the photo opening his home page!  This posting marks my switch from attaching a signature to posted images to using my logo, a decision not taken lightly considering how many images I’ve banked with the signature.

Matt Malanowski

Dion Kerr

Raphael Pannier

Kali Rodriguez

Pawan Benjamin

Giorgi Mikadze

Hoo Kim

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Pistolera – December 5, 2015

Posted on December 6, 2015 by parker

Pistolera  –  Bronx Library Center   –  December 5, 2015

This group’s  hard-driving sound gets its characteristic tinge from Latin American accordion pumping along at two-fourths time, behind singer-songwriter Sandra Lilia Velásquez.  The strong rhythmic essence is shared among all players, and had some in the audience dancing.  The group’s name translates as “female gunslinger”.

Sandra Lilia Velásquez

Maria Elena

Bryan Vargas

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Busking New York – November 18, 2015

Posted on November 18, 2015 by parker

Busking New York  –  November 18, 2015

I needed to do some unpleasant bureaucracy stuff in Brooklyn, so I took a day off from work.  Why not make the subway ride as productive as possible?  While I was sketching Robinson, a rider who was listening to the music, and had already thrown some money at him, came over to admire my work and dropped a buck into my open bag!  I turned it over to Robinson, of course.

J-Star

Harold Robinson

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Gilad Hekselman – November 6, 2015

Posted on November 6, 2015 by parker

Gilad Hekselman  –  Bronx Museum of the Arts  – November 6, 2015

Two consecutive concerts of jazz guitar trios, and they both featured Scott Colley on bass.  So I skipped sketching him here (check the post of Oct 18 for sketch) – I did present him with a hard copy.  Awesome technique all around for this concert.

Gilad Hekselman

Ferenc Nemeth

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sketchcrawl #49 – October 24, 2015

Posted on October 24, 2015 by parker

Sketchcrawl #49 – Bronx, NY  –  October 24, 2015

For my day’s crawl I first walked to the northern reaches of Tibbetts Brook in Van Cortlandt Park.  Fifty years ago this used to be a broad lake surrounded by open field, a cherished fishing and mischief locale of my youth.  Now the eutrophied lake is filled in, its footprint and shore areas impenetrably overgrown with invasive weeds.  From there, on to the premier Jewish Deli of my life, Liebman’s in Riverdale.

Tibbetts Brook Spillway

Tibbetts Brook

Condiments at Liebman's Deli

Parker Gambino 2015

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Julian Lage – October 18, 2015

Posted on October 18, 2015 by parker

Julian Lage  –  Cole Auditorium, Greenwich Library  –  October 18, 2015

Lage is one of a slew of young jazz guitarists that are the next generation to carry that torch.  I’m not always sure I’m going to like what comes out jazz-wise from a telecaster – I view the hollow body as the correct jazz guitar format – but fears were allayed right away.  I know facial expressions of the players are not necessarily an indication of anything, but he sure seemed smiley about his work, with good reason.

Julian Lage

Scott Colley

Kenny Wolleson

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Luther Dickinson – September 12, 2015

Posted on September 12, 2015 by parker

Luther Dickinson  –  Madison Square Park  –  September 12, 2015

Dickinson is the big cheese of the North Mississippi All-Stars; he is now out on his own, sticking with the Americana idiom.  Thomas hails from a long-standing rootsy family, representing the last link of the fast fading old-timey fife-and-drum tradition (think “Yankee Doodle”, not that they would have dared play that); she split her time between drumming on traps and fifing (is that a word?) with a homemade cane instrument.  Dickinson himself acknowledged being schooled by her grandfather.  There was a third, part-time player on drums when Thomas was blowing the stick.  To close the concert, Dickinson grabbed a bass drum, the drummer strapped on a snare, Thomas piped, and they strolled through the crowd.

Luther Dickinson

Sharde Thomas

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Ramon Mercado – September 12, 2015

Posted on September 12, 2015 by parker

Ramon Mercado  –  Busking New York  –  September 12, 2015

Mercado was occupying the smallest possible amount of space on the subway platform, performing totally hunched over.  He had two sets of tiny foot-percussions: a pair of mini maracas, and a set of diminutive drums.  One or the other needed constant adjustment between songs.  Fortunately I finished slightly before he did; I’m not sure if I made him paranoid.  His right hand seemed to have a permanent deformation, I wondered if it was from his guitar playing.  Communication on all fronts was not clear; I hope I got his name right!

Ramon Mercado

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Pedrito Martinez – September 1, 2015

Posted on September 1, 2015 by parker

Pedrito Martinez  –  CHIRP, Ballard Park  –  September 1, 2015

Martinez leads this bare-bones Afro-Cuban group.  The modestly scaled roster doesn’t prevent them from putting out a really full sound, including the occasional four part vocal harmony.  A lot of the traditional stuff they do gets to jazz via folk music, perhaps less typically than the more familiar (to me) blues-based route.  It has a degree of simplicity that allows for subtle improvisation and Martinez’s piercing vocal goads.  On the other hand, Pantoja-Aleman composes some of the group’s songs, which have complex unexpected circuitous structures whose logic (but not beauty) was beyond my grasp.  Benevides takes advantage of various percussive effects extracted from his electric bass.

Pedrito Martinez

Edgar Pantoja-Aleman

Alvaro Benevides

Jhair Sala

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment