Dharma All Stars recap 2; A wild Sunday September 9, 2008

Saturday night, I spoke to my friend Kat Sarracco.  She told me she would be coming to Long Island on Sunday to attend the Long Beach Jazz Festival.  I had considered going on my own because Dharma All Stars – drummer John Favicchia’s band – were playing, but decided a few hours before I spoke to her that I wouldn’t go.  Her admission changed my plans swiftly.

We arranged to meet at Rockville Centre’s Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) station at 1:30 Sunday afternoon.  She called at 12:30 to let me know she hadn’t left Connecticut yet and would call back when she was close to the station.  I boarded the 1:19 train out of Wantagh LIRR and arrived in Rockville Centre 13 minutes later.  (I didn’t even get my ticket punched!)  I called Kat back and she told me she wasn’t even in the Bronx yet.  The Hutchinson River Parkway was partially flooded as a result of the rains of Tropical Storm Hanna the night before.  So, as she kept driving, I started walking in the direction of Long Beach.  About 90 minutes later…

Courtesy Google Maps via screencap

…I had walked 5.1 miles; sunburned parts of my body that weren’t covered by a shirt, shorts, or socks; finally stopping at a McDonald’s in Long Beach, seconds away from the drawbridge into the city, where Kat and I finally met.

Then, it was off to the Long Beach Public Library for the Jazz Festival, which was in its last day of three.  The sixth annual festival was produced by guitarist and stick player Steve Adelson, who multiple performances on Friday and Saturday.  Before the Dharma All Stars performed, it was steel pan player Alan Bates’ turn with his Island Breeze Caribbean Ensemble.

For this performance, the ensemble featured legendary percussionist Nydia “Liberty” Mata:

Nydia had a performance of her own the night before at the Long Beach Historical Society Museum.

In between Island Breeze and Dharma All Stars, Steve Adelson held the last of three drawings for a guitar.

After the winner was chosen and received his guitar, and as Dharma finished setting up, Steve told a brief music joke: “C, E-flat, and G walk into a bar.  The bartender says, ‘Sorry, we don’t serve minors.'”  As a piano student, I got the joke.  I probably wouldn’t have gotten it before two years ago when my lessons started.

With that, the performance was underway.  Kat took pictures from various spots in the room.  I took pictures from various spots in the first row.

The set list was:
1. Coincidence
2. Horizons
3. Snakes
4. Sing a Song of Song
5. Kukuc

The band was primarily the same as it was at Mirelle’s in July, but without a horn player (Carl Fischer was touring with Billy Joel) and with a different bass player.

On this day, the band was comprised of John Favicchia on drums:

Bill Heller on keyboard:

Bill Harris on tenor sax:

Chieli Minucci on acoustic guitar (for first part of “Coincidence” only)…

…and electric guitar:

And Mike Pope on bass:

Afterward, Kat took a group shot of the band and me:

And that ended the Long Beach portion of my day.  From there, Kat was nice enough to drive me home.  While a drawbridge on the Meadowbrook Parkway was up, I took this sunset pic:

Now, you’d think that would be the end of this post.  You’d be wrong.  Once the drawbridge came back down, the moving barrier would not come back up.  It was stuck, and so were we, and everyone else driving to the bridge in either direction.  For some perspective, here is where the bridge is:

Courtesy Google Maps via screencap

Here was the view in front of Kat’s car:

And the view from behind:

After 10 to 30 minutes (I lost track of time), a state trooper and technician arrived on the scene.

Within seconds, the problem was fixed, and the barrier rose again.

From there, it was smooth sailing (or driving, in this case) all the way home.  Hopefully, it was the same for Kat once she drove back to her home.

Summer pre-order update #1 August 26, 2008

I made another pre-order today:
Spyro Gyra, “A Night Before Christmas” (9/23)

My copy of Lisa Hilton’s “Sunny Day Theory” arrived last Thursday.  It sounded fairly good.

New round of pre-orders August 13, 2008

Last night, I pre-ordered two CDs that will be released in late September at Amazon:

Fourplay, “Energy” (9/23)
Jeff Lorber, “Heard That” (9/30)

“Energy” marks Fourplay’s debut on Heads Up, while “Heard That” marks Jeff Lorber’s debut on Peak.

8/14 UPDATE: I have made another pre-order:
Lisa Hilton, “Sunny Day Theory” (9/2)

8/15 UPDATE: Never mind about “Sunny Day Theory.”  It’s available right now at CD Baby.

David Benoit “Heroes” album reviewed at SmoothViews August 2, 2008

In the August issue of “SmoothViews,” one month after interviewing David Benoit, Bonnie Schendell reviews his latest album, “Heroes.”  As I said in my July 1 post about the interview, I reviewed the album back on May 29, two days after it was released.

Here’s the first paragraph of Bonnie’s review:

When it comes to long careers in this business, David Benoit is at the top of the heap.  For over 30 years, this pianist has put out so much music, it’s almost impossible to listen to a radio station and not hear something of his every hour.  His music has run the gamut from smooth jazz, fusion, and pop to orchestral, Charlie Brown, and now a tribute to the music and artists that most influenced David throughout his life.  The end result is Heroes, an eleven track CD, with one original track,that offers up innovative, almost totally acoustic, approaches to songs that we all have known and loved for years.  David brings this all to life with his regular touring band:  Jamey Tate (drums), David Hughes (bass), Brad Dutz (percussion), and special guest, Andy Suzuki (sax).

Spyro Gyra Smooth Cruise recap July 31, 2008

Last night, I was aboard the Spirit of New York‘s sunset cruise (6:30 PM) out of Chelsea Piers (Pier 61) in New York, New York, which featured the weekly Smooth Cruise.

The cruise route took us down the Hudson River, through New York Harbor, up the East River, and back.

This week, the performers were Spyro Gyra.

The set list was as follows:
1. Jam Up
2. Simple Pleasures
3. Get Busy
4. Early song medley I: Shaker Song
5. Early song medley II: Catching The Sun
6. Early song medley III: Morning Dance
7. Scott Ambush bass solo/Island Time
8. Bonny B. drum solo/Funkyard Dog

Outside of Dharma All Stars and Natural Selection (saxophonist Mario Cruz’s band) gigs, I have never been as close to the band while they’re playing as I was last night.  Before I took pictures of them, I went out to the bow of the ship.  These are the pictures that stood out:

Ellis Island:

Lower Manhattan skyline:

The Statue of Liberty:

Now, to the band.

On the alto and soprano saxophones, Jay Beckenstein:

I was eating my buffet dinner, and then out on the bow, when Jay was on soprano sax on “Simple Pleasures” and “Get Busy,” but here he is on both alto and soprano on “Funkyard Dog”:

On keyboards, Tom Schuman:

Scott Ambush on bass:

Julio Fernandez on guitar and vocals:

And on drums and vocals, Bonny B.!

Letting out a laugh:

Asking the passengers a question in slow motion (on the third attempt):

The answer was a loud “Yeah!!!”

In the span of a week, I got to see two phenomenal drummers (John Favicchia last Thursday).

The band stands together and waves at the end:

My apologies to Tom for only having a shot where he blinked.  The following picture taken afterward with me makes up for it:

Despite some personal moments early on where I felt overwhelmed (oh, that Asperger Syndrome)–such as indecision on whether to sit in one of the rows of chairs or at a table (settled on a table), not realizing the ticket to the buffet was only good one time (that worked out in the end, too)–I had a great time.  And Spyro Gyra always makes for a great time.

8/1 UPDATE: Here are some additional pictures from the cruise.  The first two were taken while waiting to board.

The early evening sun behind the clouds:

A wider sky shot:

And on the way back, the Empire State Building:

8/9 UPDATE: Kat Sarracco was aboard the 9:30 cruise.  She also took pictures.  For those of you on MySpace (account required), here are additional pictures.