Matthew Stevens Quintet @ Solo Kitchen Bar

Matt Stevens 5 @ Solo Kitchen Bar

Matthew Stevens (the guitar player on Christian Scott’s albums Rewind That and Anthem) with Logan Richardson on alto, John Escreet on piano, Eric Doob on drums and Joe Sanders (the First Runner Up in the Thelonious Monk Jazz Competition 2009 ) on acoustic bass @ Solo Kitchen Bar. I heard the second set. Didn’t really like the gig so much. Mostly because of the compositions I guess, sounded kind of obscure to me. Even though I like the stuff on his myspace so much more, with the effects and all the good lines and grooves. At Solo, it sounded kind of naked to me.  But there was a really cool moment of interaction between alto and bass and later piano. But yeah. Also, the piano wasn’t loud enough where i was sitting. But Solo Kitchen Bar is still such a great hang! Definitely one of the best places for jazz on any Sunday night in New York 😀

Tim Collins Group @ Solo Kitchen Bar

Tim Collins Group @ Solo Kitchen Bar

With Danny Grissett on piano, Johannes Weidenmueller on bass, Eric Doob on drums and Tim Collins on vibes. Heard the second set – was great! I love Tim Collins’s approach – seems easygoing and simple, but is also really well balanced and dynamic. Sometimes have the energy of a rock band, with vibes 😉 ! Really good compositions as well. I heard Tim’s New Tune again 🙂 My favorite one… Yeah, that band was amazing! Who is that drummer, sounded really good!

Haven’t been to Solo Kitchen Bar in a while. They have great news – beer on tap and brick oven pizza coming soon… Wow 😀 And I just discovered that the bus from my neighborhood, B68 comes and goes there in every 7-8 minutes, all night. Is that possible? Anyway, B68 line is special – they say that this is the perfect vehicle for observing the multicultural thoroughfare of Brooklyn. The line starts right where I live, Bartel Pritchard Square and goes all the way to Coney Island. Going to try taking the full ride one day 😀

Dave Binney Group @ Solo Kitchen Bar

Dave Binney Group @ Solo Kitchen Bar

His regular Tuesday-nights-@55Bar group with Jacob Sacks on keys, Thomas Morgan on bass, Dan Weiss on drums. Somehow it sounded even better @ Solo!  And it was packed. On the way there, on the Q-train, I heard people talking about it, how they were actually making the trip to Cortelyou just for that. So Solo Kitchen Bar is getting really popular, attracting crowds from Manhattan as well now. Maybe it’ll take over the Japanese tourists from the Blue Note some day once people realize how hip the place is 😀

That concert was so killin’! That band together, wow, they have obviously played together a lot :). Really great killin’ New York jazz, I enjoyed it so much! And now that Mark Guiliana is out of town for a while, I think Dan Weiss is the perfect drummer to start stalking next 😉

Vardan Ovsepian @ Solo Kitchen Bar

Vardan Ovsepian @ Solo Kitchen Bar

Heard Vardan Ovsepian’s band again, made it for the second set.  This time it was without Tim Miller, though. Quite a few guitar dorks showed up anyway :D. Mark Ferber on the drums was really killin’, I was thinking. They played the same compositions as @ 55 Bar a couple of months ago.

After that I went to the Sycamore for more drinks. This is the other place in the neighborhood that seems to be open late, besides Solo Kitchen Bar.

And I have found out by now that the great majority of New York jazz musicians live in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn area these days.

Jonathan Kreisberg @ Solo Kitchen Bar

Jonathan Kreisberg @ Solo Kitchen Bar

I made it to the second set – sounded great! Jonathan Kreisberg on guitar, Orlando Le Fleming on bass, Will Vinson on alto (also some piano) and Greg Ritchie on drums. I really liked Jonathan Kreisberg’s new compositions, they played a bunch of them on the second set – I believe they were entitled Survive, Long As A Mercury Day, one really great one without a name. And they played The South Of Everywhere. I really liked the drummer, again 😀

Davy Mooney Quartet @ Solo Kitchen Bar

Davy Mooney with John Ellis, Matt Clohesy, Jochen Rueckert @ Solo Kitchen Bar

With John Ellis on tenor, Matt Clohesy – bass, Jochen Rueckert – drums, Davy Mooney – guitar. I heard most of the tunes @ 55 Bar a couple of weeks ago. But it’s always good to listen to John Ellis 🙂 And I liked Matt Clohesy on bass a lot.

Solo Kitchen Bar on Sundays is just amazing – all the bands I’ve ever heard there have been really killin’. The only stupid thing about making the trip is the Q train which tends to run express on weekends, skipping the Cortelyou road stop. So that people end up @ Kings Highway and have to come back with the Manhattan-bound train.

John Ellis Group @ Solo Kitchen Bar

John Ellis Group @ Solo Kitchen Bar

Seems like Solo Kitchen Bar is a great place to hear jazz on Sundays – this time it was John Ellis Group playing, really amazing band, sounded great. Finally got to hear Tim Collins on vibraphone, loved it, especially his phrasing. . One of the highlights of the night was certainly when they played Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans. I got to thinking that laid back and bluesy vibes playing must be one of the sexiest things ever 🙂 But the band was still missing Grant Green for that tune :D. Yeah, and besides being an amazing tenor player, John Ellis is a really brilliant composer as well, heard a lot of great original tunes that night.

Sunday @ Solo Kitchen Bar: Douglas Bradford Group and Ben Monder Trio

Douglas Bradford Group

Went to Solo Kitchen Bar again (Flatbush, Brooklyn, Cortelyou Rd stop from the Q-train) they have great free shows on Sundays. This time I checked out the first one (starting 6:30) as well, because a friend was playing – and it was a great band, really – Douglas Bradford Group featuring John Beaty on alto, Greg Chudzik on bass, Nick Anderson on drums, Douglas Bradford on guitar and  compositions. I really enjoyed it! But seriously, why is the only audience in all these concerts other musicians??? Quoting a guy called Alabaster here: The only good thing about the times we’re living in is dentistry.

Ben Monder Trio @ Solo Kitchen Bar

But actually a lot more people showed up for Ben Monder trio concert later on (Ben Street was on bass, Mark Ferber on drums)  finally the place was quite packed, with no free seats. It was a great concert with a really appreciative audience (musicians again?). They played some standards such as What’s New, I’ll Remember April, original compositions and Hey Jude, the Beatles song. Didn’t hear everything because I actually went out to smoke something in between. Some of the things the drummer did made it feel like surf jazz at times – great tripping music :D.

Brad Shepik trio @ Solo Kitchen Bar and Mike Moreno Quartet

Brad Shepik trio @ Solo Kitchen Bar

Couldn’t make up my mind about what I should hear last night so I tried to have it all – first went all the way down to Flatbush, Brooklyn to Solo Kitchen Bar to hear Brad Shepik’s trio. This time it was Adam Niewood on sax and Mark Guiliana on drums. Just can’t get enough of Mark Guiliana’s drumming! Almost can’t believe my ears at times, all this great music coming from just one guy playing the drums… I really recommend everybody to check him out, who hasn’t already. Don’t know much about drumming but never heard anyone play like that. How come I never really even noticed the drummers so much before coming here anyway? And here I end up mainly listening to the drummers.

Not me on the picture 🙂

The second stop was intended to be 55 Bar. In some mysterious way the subway followed a really weird route back to Manhattan – I was supposedly on a 2 train Bronx express, but it stopped at really wrong places according to the map and I ended up at an unexpected station and walked to 55 Bar. So I actually only heard the last tune of Mike Moreno’s Quartet – it was a good one :). Liked the sound a lot, actually there was Tim Collins on vibraphone – really would have wanted to hear some New York vibes playing. Next time then, I guess. We hanged around for a couple of beers at a bar next door, Kettle, with Mike Moreno, Kristjan Randalu, Tim Collins and later on a Canadian double bass player girl. Really had a good time with them.