Tuesday at The Fifth Estate

Kyle Nasser Group @ the Fifth Estate

The Fifth Estate’s jazz Tuesdays seem to be quite a worthy tradition in the Brooklyn jazz scene. For a couple of months now they’ve also had the early set from 7-9:30, by Kyle Nasser Group. I did some pre-listening in their Myspace and thought they’d be worth checking out as well.

So I heard the second set, consisting of: Speak Low, a fresh sounding original tune (by the guitar player in the group, unfortunately I didn’t catch his name), then a tune that I didn’t recognize, a version of Nefertiti with some really beautiful moments, and I Remember You. 

Some of the tunes had a nice fresh energy in them, which I really enjoyed. The guitar player in the group seemed also interesting, played with a lot of energy (which I think is actually quite rare…) although he was relying on Kurt Rosenwinkel’s influence quite a bit which I think is not such an original thing to copy nowadays. I wish I’d find someone successfully copying Grant Green from somewhere…

Donny McCaslin, Diego Voglino, Linda Oh and John Chin

Afterwards we heard the set by Diego Voglino (drums) with Donny McCaslin (tenor) , Linda Oh (bass), John Chin (keyboard). They played Milestones (the older one by Miles Davis), Billy Strayhorn’s Isfahan, John Coltrane’s Crescent and Like Sonny and two compositions by John Chin. I really enjoyed Donny McCaslin’s top quality saxophone playing 🙂 Pretty amazing, on this crispy cold New York Tuesday night, in a bar in Brooklyn, to hear such people… It was actually also my first time hearing Linda Oh: I thought she is great, very nice musician, and actually still rather underrated, in my opinion.

Besides the consistently good jazz at Fifth Estate, they  also have Southampton beer on tap! I like! 🙂

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.

Ben Monder @ Royale and free Bombay Sapphire @ Deity Underground

Ben Monder with Gary Wang and Diego Voglino

Ben Monder with Gary Wang and Diego Voglino and an unknown (to me) sax player playing the opening set 😀 Was really killing. Ben Monder is one of those few guitar players who is still full of surprises even after hearing him so many times. It even gets more fascinating. And Gary Wang on bass is just so incredibly melodic, really enjoyable to listen. They seem to be great partners with Ben Monder. Yeah, Diego Voglino’s jam session is really cool.

I actually escaped the jam session part – went to this place called Deity on Atlantic Ave and drank some Bombay Sapphire gin. I love those open bars – free drinks and great loud party music – bound to put you in a great mood. But gin itself is kind of bad. I couldn’t even finish two.

I thought these guys would look good on the picture

I’m wondering what’s been going on lately with my public transport luck – somehow I never wait for trains and buses anymore. They just arrive almost by second. Must be aligned with the stars or something. It worked even with B63 bus to Atlantic Ave, both ways. I did have time to meet a cool guy reading Vonnegut’s Cat’s Cradle in the bus stop . I was just reading that one in the summer 😀 Coincidences everywhere.

And more of that mysterious timing – got back to Royale exactly when the house band started the last set 😀 They totally broke my heart with Embraceable You, haven’t heard something as beautiful in a long time.

So far, in my search of what to drink besides beer or expensive wine and cocktails, I’ve so far found two pretty good options: hot cider (also good with rum) and whiskey, straight up.

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.

Nate Radley 4tet @ the Church of Greenwich Village

Nate Radley 4tet

Nate Radley (guitar), Loren Stillman (alto), Gary Wang (double bass), Diego Voglino (drums) @ the Neighborhood Church of Greenwich Village, Bleecker St (6th Av). I found Gary Wang on double bass real amazing, the way he seems to tell stories with his playing. Actually heard him about a month or so ago playing in Ben Monder’s trio. And Loren Stillman is a really happening alto player, I guess he’s one of my favorite sax players I’ve heard here so far. I actually first saw him play with Tim Ziesmer @ Spike Hill and then with his own trio @ Royale (Park Slope) a couple of weeks ago. He can take playing harmony into whole new intriguing level. This time I really liked January by Nate Radley and the Flaming Lips cover One More Robot.