[Dixielandjazz] New Year's Eve Prices - Redux

[Stephen Barbone]

Following is a New York Times example of New Year's Eve, supply & demand
economics which is THE REASON for higher prices on New Year's Eve.

It has been severely edited as MANY, MANY venues and performances were
listed. What remains is pretty much the music scene these days.

What surprised me is that I have worked with about 8 of the musicians
listed at one time or another from latin drummer Ray Mantilla to bassist
Reggie Washington, and on the same bill at Festivals with many others
like Herbie Hancock, Cyrus Chestnut, Roy Hargrove etc.

Sadly, there is not much OKOM in evidence here other than the "New
Orleans Backbeat" referenced at B. B. King's club.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

December 26, 2003 - New York Times

Riffing, Rocking and Jamming, Pushing the Clock Toward Midnight

By JON PARELES

      New Year's Eve isn't just a calendar date; it's an industry, a
full-employment program for makers of Champagne, party hats and
toothpicks, for waiters and taxi drivers and bouncers, and not least for
disc jockeys and musicians. The urge to greet the new year with public
songs and dancing may well be primordial, and from local lounges to
concert halls, in places that have music every night and places that
don't, New Year's Eve is the occasion to crank up both the volume and
the price. In New York City the night's offerings run from introspective
songwriters to jazz swingers to jam bands to thumping, pulsating dance
music. In most cases it's a good idea to make reservations or buy
tickets in advance. (*
denotes a highly recommended performance; New Year's Eve cabaret shows
are listed on Page 44.)

BLACK 47, Connolly's Pub, 121 West 45th Street, Manhattan, (212)
597-5126. Playing Irish music with its heart in the Bronx, not Dublin,
Black 47 meshes traditional jigs and reels with rock, hip-hop and fierce
social commentary, speaking to Irish immigrants in the New York mosaic.
10:30 p.m.; admission is $20.

HIRAM BULLOCK BAND, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, above
Bleecker Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626. Mr. Bullock, a powerful
funk-rock bass player with a sense of jazz harmony, is an old favorite
on the New York scene. 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.; music charge is $35, with a
$15 minimum.

CHRIS BYARS GROUP, Fat Cat, 75 Christopher Street, West Village, (212)
675-6056. Along with Mr. Byars, the tenor saxophonist, the band includes
the trumpeter Richie Vitale, the trombonist John Mosca (of the Village
Vanguard's regular Monday night jazz orchestra), the pianist Sascha
Perry, the bassist Neal Miner and the drummer Jimmy Lovelace, as well as
the singer Sasha Dobson. 9 p.m. to 2 a.m.; admission is $30,
including beer, wine or Champagne.

* CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO AND FRIENDS, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street,
Manhattan, (212) 576-2232. Mr. Chestnut, a pianist, swings the way the
old guard used to; that's why he was so dazzling when he came on the
scene in the early 1990's. But he is also a sentimentalist. Trios happen
to be his best setting: they discourage his excesses and push him to his
rhythmic limits. Added to his trio on New Year's Eve are the trumpeter
Marcus Printup and the saxophonist Wessell Anderson, both of them
spirited, soulful musicians. For the 7:30 show doors open at 6:30, and
for a $95 cover you get the show and a three-course meal from the club's
excellent adjoining restaurant, Blue Smoke. For the 10:30 show doors
open at 9:30, and $150 covers a three-course meal and a midnight
Champagne toast.

DISCO BISCUITS, NEW DEAL, Hammerstein Ballroom, 311 West 34th Street,
Manhattan, (212) 279-7740. The Disco Biscuits have worked their way up
the jam-band circuit with blithe rock that veers toward funk and jazz,
hovers in circling, hypnotic riffs and sometimes turns into a live
version of electronica. The New Deal's jams delve into current
dance-club rhythms, using human muscle to approximate computerized
breakbeats. 9 p.m.; admission is $45 in advance, $50 at the door.

* HERBIE HANCOCK QUARTET, CURTIS STIGERS QUARTET, Blue Note, 131 West
Third Street, Greenwich Village, (212) 475-8592. Over the years Mr.
Hancock, the pianist, has become basic to the jazz vocabulary, and when
he's on, he's still fantastic; the band this week includes musicians who
have worked with him often over the last five years, among them the
saxophonist Gary Thomas, the bassist Scott Colley and the drummer Teri
Lynne Carrington. 7 and 10 p.m. and 1 a.m. Cover charges are $75 for the
first show or $50 at the bar, including a Champagne toast; $90 for the
second show, or $65 at the bar; and $75 for the third show, $50 at the
bar.

ROY HARGROVE, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, below Spring Street,
South Village, (212) 242-1063. One of the most dynamic musicians on the
New York scene, Mr. Hargrove, the trumpeter, has kept his edge by
dropping in for lots of low-visibility jamming and cultivating younger
players. The band for New Year's Eve includes Jaleel Shaw on alto
saxophone, Marc Cary on piano, Reggie Washington on bass, Jonathan Blake
on drums and the vocalist Renee Neufville. There are three sets, at 8
and 10:30 p.m. and 1:30 a.m. Admission for the first set is $50,
including hors d'oeuvres and an open beer and wine bar; the second set,
lasting until 1 a.m., is $75, including hors d'oeuvres, Champagne toast
and an open beer and wine bar; and the third set, until 3 a.m., costs
$40, including an open beer and wine bar.

GARLAND JEFFREYS AND THE CONEY ISLAND PLAYBOYS, Cutting Room, 19 West
24th Street, Manhattan, (212) 691-1900. The songwriter Garland Jeffreys
is a longtime voice of multiethnic New York, mixing rock, reggae and
touches as varied as doo-wop and samba. Along with love songs and
reminiscences of running "Wild in the Streets," he doesn't flinch from
tough topics like racism. At 8 p.m., admission is $65
with a $15 minimum; at 11, admission is $65 with a $20 minimum.

* KARSH KALE, DR. ISRAEL, DEREK BERES AND DUB GABRIEL, Kush, 183 Orchard
Street, Lower East Side, (212) 677-7328. Cross-cultural dance mixes
drawing from all directions are likely at this party. Behind the
turntables are Karsh Kale, a D.J. and tabla player who layers together
dance beats and Indian music; Dr. Israel, who seeks the links between
dub reggae and drum-and-bass; Derek Beres, managing editor of Global
Rhythm magazine and part of the GlobeSonic disc jockey collective; and
Dub Gabriel, who comes up with hybrids of dub, Middle Eastern music and
other far-flung material and has written music for MTV's "Total Request
Live." Doors open at 8; tickets are $30 in advance, $40 at the door,
including Middle Eastern food and a Champagne toast.

TED LEO AND THE PHARMACISTS, the Knitting Factory, 74 Leonard Street,
TriBeCa, (212) 219-3006. Ted Leo and the Pharmacists put a New York edge
— frenetic guitars, neurosis-laced lyrics, stray electronic loops — into
songs that aren't content to rely on their new wave/power pop
tunefulness. 9 p.m.; admission is $20. Afterward, from 2 to 6 a.m.,
performers from the Coney Island Circus Sideshow will take over the
club; admission is $15, or $30 for both Mr. Leo and the sideshow. There
are also free performances in the club's Old Office room by Fort
Ancient, Trophy Scars and the Electric Ladybugs at 8 and Music for
Clones and the Irwin Conspiracy at midnight.

* LUNA, THE MENDOZA LINE, Mercury Lounge, 217 East Houston Street,
Manhattan, (212) 260-4700. Embracing the legacy of two-guitar New York
bands from the Velvet Underground to Television, Luna applies the
dynamics of strum, drone and build to Dean Wareham's tales of longing
and decadence. While Mr. Wareham sings about high-toned parties, aimless
road trips and creeping paranoia, the songs start out cool until the
writhing, swelling guitars reveal the obsessions within them. The
Mendoza Line brings touches of country to the disheveled collegiate-rock
of Pavement. 6 and 10 p.m.; admission is $30.

KEVIN MAHOGANY, Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Manhattan, (212)
581-3080. Mr. Mahogany, a baritone jazz singer, synthesizes about 50
years' worth of stylistic information between jazz and soul; in one set
you might get an index of tones, projections and suavities ranging from
Jimmy Rushing to Nat King Cole to Joe Williams to Jon Hendricks to
Marvin Gaye. 8 and 10:30 p.m.; music charge is $50 for the first set and
$100 for the second, with a $20 minimum for either.

* BUDDY AND JULIE MILLER, Bottom Line, 15 West Fourth Street, Greenwich
Village, (212) 228-6300. Buddy and Julie Miller are husband-and-wife
songwriters from Nashville. Emmylou Harris has recorded Ms. Miller's
songs, and Mr. Miller, a quietly impressive guitarist, leads Ms.
Harris's band, Spyboy, between his own tours and albums. The Millers
sidestep country's easy wordplay to write folk-rock songs full of rainy,
lonely nights. "You can have my heart," Ms. Miller sings, "if you don't
mind broken things." 9:30 p.m.; admission is $35.

MURPHY'S LAW, Continental, 25 Third Avenue, at St. Marks Place, East
Village, (212) 529-6924. Murphy's Law is still pounding out
loud-and-fast punk rock after all these years. It headlines a bill that
includes Loafass and the Verdicts. 8 p.m.; tickets are $15.

NORTHERN STATE, Southpaw, 125 Fifth Avenue, near Sterling Place, Park
Slope, Brooklyn, (718) 230-0236. Northern State, a three-woman rap group
from Long Island, reaches back to its own version of old-school — sound
of the early Beastie Boys — as it deadpans its way through some
hilarious rhymes over basic beats. 10:30 p.m.; admission is $20.

OGANS, WAYNE GORBEA, S.O.B.'s, 204 Varick Street, at Houston Street,
South Village, (212) 243-4940. Ogans, a band of booming drummers backing
a singer, plays a repertory of hits from Bahia, Brazil, in sets that
feature both the sophisticated tunes of tropicalia and the frenetic,
lightheartedly raunchy songs of Bahia's more recent craze, axé. The
pianist Wayne Gorbea leads a Latin band that reaches back to the
hard-charging, jazz-tinged salsa of the 1970's. The club has three New
Year's Eve packages, including an 8 p.m. admission with full dinner for
$150, 10 p.m. standing room with hors d'oeuvres and a Champagne toast at
midnight for $75, and 12:30 a.m. standing room with a Continental
breakfast at dawn for $10.

JOHNNY PACHECO, Copacabana, 560 West 34th Street, Manhattan, (212)
239-2672. Mr. Pacheco was born in the Dominican Republic but fell in
love early with Afro-Cuban music. As flutist, bandleader and executive,
he has been a prime mover in New York Latin music since the 1960's, when
he helped start Fania Records; he went on to lead the Fania All-Stars,
the band that defined New York salsa. Kevin Ceballo and the group La
Linea also perform. 10 p.m. to 6 a.m.; table seats are $100, and general
admission is $50.

* MARC RIBOT Y LOS CUBANOS POSTIZOS; JOHN ZORN'S ELECTRIC MASADA; JOHN
ZORN, IKUE MORI AND MIKE
PATTON, Tonic, 107 Norfolk Street, near Delancey Street, Lower East
Side, (212) 358-7503. Three reshuffles of some of the finest downtown
improvisers. Mr. Ribot, the guitarist, who may be best known for his
time with Tom Waits, started Los Cubanos Postizos ("the prosthetic
Cubans") to play songs he loves from Cuba in the 1940's and 50's from
the repertory of Arsenio Rodriguez. He honors the tunes but isn't afraid
to add some downtown clank and down-home twang in his solos. Electric
Masada is the plugged-in band that plays Mr. Zorn's collection of
hundreds ofklezmer-tinged tunes called Masada. The lineup includes Mr.
Ribot as well as Ms. Mori on drum machines and laptop, and it can get
funky. Mr.Zorn, Ms. Mori and Mr. Patton — the chameleonic vocalist best
known for his 1980's stint in Faith No More, who has since turned to
more unhinged improvisations — also perform as a trio. 7 p.m.; tickets
are $80.

* PATTI SMITH, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey Street, near the Bowery,
Lower East Side, (212) 533-2111. Love, death, transfiguration and pushy
guitars have been Ms. Smith's staples in the quarter-century since she
turned her poetry into punk-rock. Always unpredictable, she still seeks
shamanic revelation with every gig, and she'll have new songs from her
next album, due in March. 9 p.m., with Back in Spades opening; tickets
are
$55, including a midnight Champagne toast.

SOULIVE, THE RADIATORS, B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd
Street, Manhattan, (212) 997-4144. Soulive is an organ-guitar-drums trio
that harks back to the 1950's and 60's, playing meaty, blues-centered
jazz for dancers who like straightforward funk. Lately it has been
hooking up with a little hip-hop. The second-line backbeat of New
Orleans funk is the heartbeat of the Radiators, a rock band that has
been together since the 1970's. As band members sing about woman trouble
and other frustrations, the groove keeps people shimmying. At 8 p.m.,
tickets are $50; at 1 a.m., tickets are $30.

McCOY TYNER TRIO WITH BOBBY HUTCHERSON AND JOE LOVANO, Iridium, 1650
Broadway, at 51st Street, (212) 582-2121. Mr. Tyner's guests for the New
Year's show include two of the finest musicians playing jazz today: Mr.
Hutcherson, the vibraphonist, and Mr. Lovano, the saxophonist. 7:30 and
11:15 p.m. and 1 a.m. Cover charges are $45 for the first show, ticket
only, or $95 with a three-course dinner and
front-row seating at the show. For the second show it's $195 for a
four-course dinner, show and Champagne toast; for the third show, $40
for the ticket.

JAMES (BLOOD) ULMER, TONI BLACKMAN, KEWULAY KAMARA, Bowery Poetry Club,
308 Bowery, below Bleecker Street, East Village, (212) 614-0505. The
guitarist James (Blood) Ulmer made his name in jazz groups led by Art
Blakey and Ornette Coleman, but he has deep roots in swampy, raucous
blues. Singing in grizzled tones, plunking out notes with a thumb or
making his guitar blurt feedback, he's in touch
with both Son House and Jimi Hendrix. He'll perform solo and in a trio
and introduce the night's other performers, including Toni Blackman, a
poet with roots in hip-hop, with her band and the 10-piece African
ensemble led by the jeli (or griot) Kewulay Kamara, who will be singing
backed by koras (harps), balafons (marimbas) and percussion, probably
with Mr. Ulmer sitting in. Other jeli will also be on hand, among them
Papa Susso and Abdoulaye Diabate, along with English-language poets
including the club's proprietor, Bob Holman. 7 p.m. to 4 a.m.; admission
is $25, including a Champagne toast at midnight.

* CHUCHO VALDES QUARTET, Village Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at
11th Street, West Village, (212) 255-4037. There will be novisa trouble
and last-minute cancellations this time; Mr. Valdes, the formidable
Cuban pianist, is living in the New York area at the moment. And this
whole week he is starting up what looks to be a great new band, with the
bassist John Benitez, the drummer Dafnis Prieto and the percussionist
Ray Mantilla. 9:30 and 11:30 p.m.; cover charge of $125 includes both
sets, a $25 drink minimum, Latin-Caribbean food and party favors.

BARRENCE WHITFIELD AND THE MERCY BROTHERS, Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Avenue,
at 27th Street, Manhattan, (212) 683-6500. The rock 'n' roll wild man
has not vanished from the earth. Mr. Whitfield sets out to be a
successor to shouters like Screamin' Jay Hawkins and Little Richard,
whooping and hollering away. 10 p.m.; free.

* YO LA TENGO, Maxwell's, 1039 Washington Street, Hoboken, N.J., (201)
798-0406. Yo La Tengo's songwriters, the husband-and-wife team of Ira
Kaplan on guitar and Georgia Hubley on drums, prize succinct, tuneful
songs about the modest pains and pleasures of daily life and love. From
those songs, however, a welter of fuzz-tone and feedback can erupt at
any time, like a psychedelic disruption of quotidian reality. 10 p.m.;
admission is $40, including a buffet and Champagne toast; unannounced
guest musicians are also expected.

ZEN TRICKSTERS, TriBeCa, 16 Warren Street, TriBeCa, (212) 766-1070. The
Zen Tricksters started out two decades ago playing Grateful Dead
songs. While they now have their own songs to jam on, they haven't
forgotten their early repertory; no less a figure than Phil Lesh of the
Dead has
called on their expertise. 10 p.m.; tickets are $40 and $75.