Davy Mooney Quartet; Arthur Kell Quartet @ 55 Bar

Davy Mooney Quartet @ 55 Bar

What a nice shelter from the rain – I spent the whole evening @ 55 Bar last night.  Early set was Davy Mooney Quartet – Dave Mooney (guitar), John Ellis (tenor sax), Orlando LeFleming (bass), Greg Ritchie (drums). Great choice of sidemen :D. Having that good sidemen might be dangerous though, but I guess it worked out. Davy Mooney did some singing as well – he has a really nice voice. I liked the drummer a lot. And John Ellis is just so incredibly expressive. He seems to have mastery over so many shades of sound and dynamics.

Arthur Kell Quartet @ 55 Bar

And the next band, Arthur Kell Quartet was just amazing! Nir Felder on guitar, Loren Stillman on alto, Mark Ferber on drums, Arthur Kell on bass and compositions. They were so tight and everybody was really killin’! The first set was especially good, I enjoyed it so much! 😀 Hearing that kind of music makes me not want to leave New York. Nir Felder really surprised me again – even though he suffered from a jet leg, that was some very inspired ground-breaking guitar playing there. He seems to get better with every time I hear him, or is it just me? Anyway, it was fun to hear him play next to Loren Stillman – those guys both play so incredible lines and have amazing sound. How can they be so killin’ when they just seem to be sight reading?  😀 Yeah that first set was one of my favorite concerts here, so far :D.

Lee Konitz trio @ Riverbank State Park

Lee Konitz trio

Nice place for a concert on a Sunday afternoon – Riverbank State Park (Riverside Drive @ W 145th St). Went there to hear the legend Lee Konitz on alto sax with Dan Tepfer on piano, also featuring double bass even though the concert was listed as a duo. I got there for the second set – and exactly the minute it started to pour outside. Yeah, Lee Konitz still has the tone, even at 81! For me, some of the forms sounded a bit disguised though 😀 They played standards, opening the set with Stella. I really liked Dan Tepfer’s blazer. I was thinking if he needed some extra money besides jazz piano, he could try modeling 😀

Great views around Riverbank State Park 🙂

New Jersey view