The Clayton Brothers @ Dizzy’s

The Clayton Brothers @ Dizzy's

John Clayton (bass), Jeff Clayton (alto), Gerald Clayton (piano), Obed Calvaire (drums), Terrell Stafford (trumpet). I caught the early set @ 7.30. It was completely sold out! Some of it might have been in relation to the NEA Jazz Masters 2012 ceremony  (many of the jazz masters and guests seemed to have dinner and listen to the music there).

The Clayton Brothers‘ band sounded great. Stylistically, it was especially refreshing as a contrast to Winter Jazzfest’s musical offering. They played tunes from their latest album The New Song And Dance and the previous one Brother To Brother.

Great musicians… How John’s and Terrell’s sounds blended on the melodies was just beautiful (to feature some of those sound qualities, John Clayton had even specifically wrote the tune Terrell’s Song). Gerald Clayton’s piano comping and musical inventiveness was pretty impressive. Also, his father John Clayton displayed spectacular skill in using the bow when performing Where is Love (tune from the musical Oliver). I think very few bass players sound that good with the bow…

To hear this kind of music, in such a faboulous setting overlooking the New York skyline for $10 (with student discount) was almost a bargain . The only thing that bothered me was that people were walking around incessantly (with all the plates, full and empty, going back and forth…).

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The Clayton Brothers in Amazon

Music feast ahead: Winter Jazzfest 2012

2012 NYC Winter Jazz Fest

The eighth New York Winter Jazzfest coming up, to deliver over 60 mouthwatering performances in a compact spread of 5 different venues in the West Village. This Friday and Saturday (January 6th and 7th) – all music lovers in the city are going (me too)!

The sheer amount of music will be quite overwhelming, I expect. Imagining that if one would go see a concert once a week every single week of the year, it would still add up to only 52, compared to the 60 on just the two nights… What a way to take a bite out of this thriving music scene here.

I’ve been going through the program for a while (and it’s even kind of educating to do some pre-listening on some of the artists): it looks like it’s quite difficult to construct the absolute best itinerary for the nights – practically all of it has the potential to sound pretty mind blowing.

But as I’ve actually heard quite a many of this year’s performers before at some point, this time time I’m particularly excited about:

Julian Lage Group – (haven’t heard him live yet, but he seems to be a great guitar player and musician) Friday, 7:45pm @ Sullivan Hall

The 5 venues: the Bitter End, Le Poisson Rouge, Kenny's Castaway's, Sullivan Hall, Zinc Bar

Ben Williams and the Sound Effect – Jaleel Shaw, Matt Stevens, Gerald Clayton, Etienne Charles, Justin Brown. Sounds like a promising bunch Saturday, 12:45 AM @ Sullivan Hall

Justin Brown Group –  curious to see his own group (seen him doing a great job as a sideman on several occasions) Saturday 10:15 pm @ Sullivan Hall

Taylor Eigsti – one of the best young pianists now? Must be a great concert (with Eric Harland and Harish Rhaghavan) Saturday 12:30 AM @ the Bitter End

Tyshawn Sorey Oblique : interesting music! Saturday 01:45 AM @ the Bitter End

Yeah, and then I’m going to try to squeeze in Lionel Loueke (with Mark Guiliana on drums!), Marc Ribot’s Ceramic Dog, Wallace Roney (a little bit different generation than most of the Jazzfest, but sounding hip…), Chris Morrissey (with Aaron Parks, Mark Guiliana, Ben Wendel, Nir Felder = such a promising lineup!), Steven Bernstein’s MTO plays Sly (everybody’s raving about them), Ben Allison trio, Joel Harrison String Orchestra…

But most of all, I expect some of the fun to lie in playing it by the ear…

Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet @ the Jazz Gallery

Ambrose Akinmusire Quartet @ Jazz Gallery

That concert was so good! I wasn’t joking that he’s my favorite trumpet player, I love his music so much The compositions were amazing! Logan Richardson – alto, Gerald Clayton – piano, Justin Brown on drums, Harish Raghavan on bass. Lots of energy, great synergy in the band. Really good sound. Gerald Clayton on piano was totally killin’! Stayed for both sets. Even though I was a little late for the first one and missed the opening tune – of which I heard later on that it was pure magic. And they had friends sitting in – a burning 18-year old tenor player from Manhattan School for Inner Urge and in the second set vocalist Saschal Vasandani joined them for a take of Body and Soul. That was hilarious. I’ve heard him before actually, he’s a great vocalist. It was really entertaining how he had gum in his mouth the whole time. Didn’t seem to affect the singing… Yeah, but Ambrose is so special. People seem to know that – Jazz Gallery was quite packed . Really, everybody was there! I would go hear Ambrose again any time, that was such a pleasure.