Went over to Smoke Jazz Club last night which is on the Upper West Side at 105th and Broadway. It’s a great, intimate place too see live Jazz and they don’t have the crazy covers that a lot of the downtown Jazz places have, although it is $20 minimum per person once inside, but the food is excellent (despite the skimpy portions) and an extensive wine, beer and alcohol selection. I’d heard Mike Longo was going to be there, who was the pianist for Dizzy Gillespie from 1966-1975. Dizzy Verve Jazz Master’s album with it’s latin flavored beats (espec. Manteca) and influence is what initially got me into latin jazz, latin soul and eventually salsa & merengue so I was interested to see him. The band that was there was called Phoenix Rising with Andrea Brachfeld in front on the flute. It was a tight, 1 1/2 hour set of world jazz and easily one of the best drummers I’ve ever seen named Diego Lopez. I recorded some video on my tiny digital camera and was going to post it but it just doesn’t do it justice, so I’ll just say if you ever get a chance to see this guy he is amazing.
July 31, 2008
0 Comments