Ben Monder, Chris Lightcap & Diego Voglino @ the 5th Estate

Chris Lightcap, Diego Voglino, Ben Monder @ the 5th Estate. Why are the parrots on the wall?

Formerly known as Royale, 506 5th ave. b/x 12th & 13th Brooklyn is now called the 5th Estate – a lot of things have changed but they are still having Diego Voglino’s Tuesday night jam sessions with some really great New York musicians in the opening and closing sets. This time it was Ben Monder and Chris Lightcap, playing standards like  I’m Old Fashioned, This Is New, Embraceable You, Along Came Betty and World of Pain, the CREAM tune in the first set and Long Ago And Far Away, All or Nothing At All and one that I didn’t recognize for the closing set. I still think Ben Monder is one of the most interesting guitar players to listen to! You never really know what will happen next, it truly demonstrates what a limitless land jazz guitar is. And I thought Chris Lightcap sounded really great.

My list of Brooklyn Jazz Clubs

I made this list to sum up my discoveries of Brooklyn jazz and it’s now also up on Big Apple Jazz website (other jazz clubs in the city covered by Gordon Polatnick).  Happy exploring 😉

Here’s the list:

Meetup Group

I just started a meetup group for people who might want to join me for some concerts, idea sponsored by Big Apple Jazz Tours. With focus on Brooklyn and the East Village, featuring mostly cheap/free shows, open bars and most of all, great music. 😀

Here’s where you can join and RSVP for our next event 😉

Ralph Alessi’s This Against That @ I-Beam

With Ben Street on bass, Mark Ferber on drums, Andy Milne on piano, Tony Malaby on tenor sax, Ralph Alessi trumpet. I-Beam was packed in full :). After a while I realised it’s so much easier to listen to that kind of music with my eyes closed –  otherwise it was too much information. After I discovered that it all blended into one great tripping experience 😀 (- the fact that I still have a jet lag and a small fever as well might have helped). Mark Ferber and Ben Street were just unbelievable.

Ralph Alessi's This Against That @ I-Beam

With Ben Street on bass, Mark Ferber on drums, Andy Milne on piano, Tony Malaby on tenor sax, Ralph Alessi trumpet. I-Beam was packed in full :). After a while I realised it’s so much easier to listen to that kind of music with my eyes closed –  otherwise it was too much information. After I discovered that it all blended into one great tripping experience 😀 (- the fact that I still have a jet lag and a small fever as well might have helped). Mark Ferber and Ben Street were just unbelievable.

Jaime Aff Group feat Ben Monder @ Puppets Jazz Bar

Puppets Jazz Bar, 481 5th Ave Brooklyn

Well it was my first time going to Puppets. I brought 2 other people so that night, we were the crowd, I guess 😀 Made it for the last set. They almost scared us away with the cover though, $12 plus a 2-drink minimum – quite unusual for Brooklyn. Well, but the music was great, would have been too stupid to walk away because of the prices. An organ trio with more drums (Jaime Aff & Diego Voglino). Ben Monder was great!  They took a request from me, playing You Don’t Know What Love Is – was so cool to have that kind of band play what you want :D. But yeah, Puppets Jazz Bar, the schedule on their website didn’t work, there was no information about who’s playing and no notice about the cover either. How would the people even know to go there unless they know the musicians and get invited? As it so usually works in New York.

Josh Roseman, Drew Gress and Mark Guiliana @ Korzo – the Konceptions Series

Drew Gress, Mark Guiliana, Josh Roseman @ Korzo

Konceptions – the jazz/experimental music series (curated by James Carney)  in Brooklyn has been resurrected – it’s now Tuesdays @ an Eastern European restaurant called Korzo in South Park Slope (5th Ave between 19-20th St). The place is actually just a couple of blocks from Royale that has a jam session on Tuesday nights. That neighborhood seems quite happening as far as music is concerned – but weird how dead it seems to be at late hours otherwise.

The first band in the series was Josh Roseman-Drew Gress-Mark Guiliana. I thought Mark Guiliana and Drew Gress were a really interesting match.

Visit the most cutting edge venues and concerts in New York

Live music

Going through my blog stats I’ve noticed that I have readers from all over the world 🙂 So if you are on your way to New York and feel like getting the best jazz experience out of your visit, here’s an opportunity to take a tour of NY jazz scene with me – see New York’s best shows and venues, whatever time you come. Just e-mail me at ines.kuusik@gmail.com and we’ll set it up the perfect jazz adventure:D BTW, I speak Estonian, English, French and Russian and by now have contacts among many musicians, long-time music lovers and jazz aficionados in New York so we could sure have a great time and find the hottest stuff in the city.