Day 5: NYC pt. 2
Welcome
Yesterday we had a day off. We all took the time to catch up on lost sleep and catch up with old friends.
I didn’t wake until the sun was high in the sky. My first activity was a run around Brooklyn Bridge Park which in hindsight was a terrible decision. The views of Manhattan Island were terrific, though and were almost worth the risk of heat stroke.
I returned to the hotel and sat in front of the air-conditioner for a while before I could shower and head out for a meal. Tio Pio is the deli that has been responsible for a lot of our DSI (daily sandwich intake) since we arrived in New York and this time they served me up a chicken cutlet roll with lettuce, tomato, and Swiss Cheese.
It was mid afternoon when I caught the F train over to Manhattan and found a quiet spot to sit and write the blog. In other parts of NYC other Beths had similar ideas, taking the time to catch up on emails and admin.
At 7pm sharp Tringo and Benjs’ jazz night kicked off for night two at Arthur’s Tavern in the West Village. Drummer Ari Hoenig was performing with his trio featuring Dave Kikoski on piano and Johannes Weidenmueller on bass. This group played a bright and energetic mix of standards and originals filled with colourful conversation and an obvious shared language.
After listening to the first set at Arthur’s we hustled to get to our next destination which was back in Brooklyn. The B train carried us over the East River and this time it was above ground on the fine Manhattan Bridge.
We arrived at the Owl Music Parlour just in time to see Mary Halvorson’s Clone Decay - a new project featuring compositions for two trombones and guitar, augmented by electronics and processing. This was a very cool and unique sound, the two trombones often fighting over the same piece of space with the guitar providing a steady heartbeat and harmonic context. The melodic improvisations of Kalia Vandever were wild and explorative with Weston Olencki’s electronics feeling like splatters and spraypaint being laid over this musical canvas.
Feeling like we still had a little bit left in the tank we headed on to one more gig, this one at Bar LunÁtico in Brooklyn’s Stuyvesant Heights. Drummer Ross Pedersen was performing with his quartet featuring Donny McCaslin on Tenor Saxophone, David Cook on Piano, and Sam Minaie on Bass. This group knows how to go big and they provided the packed out bar with long and flowing solos that started small and ended up blowing the roof off.
Back at the hotel we jumped headed back up to our room in the number two elevator whose squidgy floor was the perfect way to end a great evening.
