The Hudson Valley is home to many, many top jazz musicians. In fact, we’ve been so deluged with interesting local jazz CDs lately that it’s been impossible to cover enough of them in Chronogram’s abbreviated music review section. So this post aims to address the situation by knocking out some quick spins on a few of ‘em...
Saugerties pianist John Esposito is, hands down, one of the hardest-gigging jazzers around. Frequently, you’ll find him in the company of vocalist Pamela Pentony (the pair co-led the now sadly defunct Sunday night jams at the Chow Hound in Saugerties for years), but he also plays with fixtures like saxmen Hugh Brodie and Harvey Kaiser in addition to leading his own bands. Busy body that he is, Esposito has not one but two new albums out on his own SunJump Records: Down Blue Marlin Road, a trio set with Ira Coleman on bass and Peter O’Brien on drums; and The Blue People, which features a quintet. Of the two, I much prefer the former. All crystalline-misty, it brings to mind Love Supreme-era McCoy Tyner/Coltrane while turning a few standards inside out along the way (the title cut reworks “On Green Dolphin Street,” with sublime results). Recommended. www.sunjumprecords.com
On the other hand, it’s hard to get excited about the most recent disc by Woodstock resident and undisputed saxophone legend David “Fathead” Newman, Cityscape (High Note Records). Newman has a reputation for a marvelously earthy, R&B-based style, and his previous release, I Remember Brother Ray, is a warm and beautifully moving tribute to his one-time boss, the great Ray Charles. But Cityscape, a sextette session starring Kingston bassist John Menegon and top dogs like trumpeter Howard Johnson, pianist Dave Leonhardt, drummer Yoron Israel, and ex-Basie trombonist Benny Powell, is flat as a pancake, with long, radio-pandering tunes that prove little besides the fact that the players are really good at sticking to arrangements. For a monumental talent like Newman, it’s a disappointing effort, especially on the heels of the great Brother Ray disc. But any version of “Goldfinger” is hard to resist, and the one that opens this CD is pretty reet. www.jazzdepot.com
Another player who really gets around, maybe even more than Esposito, is Kingston’s sultan of suave, Studio Stu. In case you’ve been living under a rock and haven’t tripped over him—or maybe you just live somewhere outside of the Catskills— Mr. Stu plays a washtub bass-like instrument of his own invention he calls the Studivarious. While he also plays the thing in a few jazz outfits (Trio Loco, Duo Loco, and the jazz-poetry project Odd City), you’re more likely to catch him unaccompanied and crooning away at some hip eatery. His solo stuff isn’t jazz in the expected sense (on Fools in Love, his second and newest recording on the Soluna imprint, he covers OutKast, The Doors, and Joe Jackson, among others), but jazz is the foundation of what he does, which is why he qualifies for inclusion here. Plus he’s a unique character and his music is good. What more do you want? www.studiostu.biz
Last, we have Live at the Bistro (Independent), an exceptionally warm and cocktail-intimate date recorded at the Blue Mountain Bistro in Saugerties by the Woodstock duo of tenor saxophonist George De Leon and guitarist Peter Einhorn. De Leon is a fine player in the Coleman Hawkins mold who’s worked with icons like Horace Silver and Roy Eldridge; Einhorn has a ringing endorsement from guitar god Jim Hall (no surprise—his spare, bell-clear tone is, to say the least, Hall-marked). After this album's namesake boite closed in 2005, the twosome didn’t have to go far for a new gig: They now play about 20 yards away, at The Red Onion on Route 212, every Sunday eve. Soft, velvety takes on standards is the game here—“Easy Living,” “Wrap Your Troubles in Dreams,” “Rosetta,” and the like. A perfect one to pop in during a rainstorm and/or after a grinding day at work. Make some tea and put your feet up...Oh, yeah…www.ulster.net/~unicorn1/
Peter Aaron is Chronogram’s assistant editor and music editor. Once the vocalist of New York band the Chrome Cranks, he now justifies his record-collecting obsession by masquerading as a “musicologist.” The Chrome Cranks’ Diabolical Boogie: Singles, Demos & Rarities 1992-1998 is out now on Atavistic Worldwide. www.atavistic.com
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