[Dixielandjazz] Jazz New Year's Eve in The Big Apple

[Steve barbone]

Back to the New Year's Eve Lack of Jazz Gigs thread, check these out in NYC.
No shortage of jazz gigs there. And this listing is just an excerpt.

Note especially that Dr. Michael White (who many of us on the DJML seem to
think is not very good) has a New Orleans Jazz Band listed at the Village
Vanguard. Not only that, but the NY Times critics highly recommend it.
Hmmmmm.

This was the "Jazz" portion of a HUGE "music" listing for New Year's Eve.
It would appear that the rest of the USA lagging far behind the Big Apple on
the music/jazz scene.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


December 24, 2004 - NY TIMES

A Rocking, Grooving or Swinging Goodbye to '04 and Hello to '05
By THE NEW YORK TIMES

A selective listing by jazz critics of The Times: Noteworthy New Year's Eve
celebrations in the New York metropolitan region next Friday. Those events
with a * are highly recommended.

JAZZ NEW YEAR'S

HIRAM BULLOCK BAND, Sweet Rhythm, 88 Seventh Avenue South, above Bleecker
Street, West Village, (212) 255-3626. Hiram Bullock, a powerful
jazz-funk-rock guitarist ‹ he played with Gil Evans's latter-day groups a
lot at this same spot, when it was called Sweet Basil ‹ is an old favorite
on the New York scene. Sets are at 9:30 and 11:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve;
cover charge for first set is $35 with a $15 food or drink minimum; for
second set, $50 with a $25 minimum.

SASHA DOBSON WITH CHRIS BYARS OCTET, Fat Cat, 75 Christopher Street, West
Village, (212) 675-6056. The young singer Sasha Dobson performed a lot with
the saxophonist Chris Byars at the old jazz club Smalls, whose owner changed
locations and calls his new place the Fat Cat. With the recent launching of
Smalls Records and her own release on the label, "The Darkling Thrush," Ms.
Dobson returns to her old audience in a new setting. She's a canny
improviser with classic Ella-and-Sarah tastes and good pitch; Mr. Byars's
arrangements of standards fit her handsomely. New Year's Eve sets are at
10:30 p.m., midnight, 1:30 and 2:30 a.m.; the cover charge is a thrifty $25.

* CYRUS CHESTNUT TRIO WITH GUESTS, Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola, Rose Hall,
Broadway at 60th Street, (212) 258-9595. Cyrus 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. His guests include the saxophonist Frank Morgan and
trumpeter Marcus Printup. On New Year's Eve, the club opens at 7 p.m., with
a first set from 8:15 to 9:45 p.m.; a three-course dinner is included for
$95. The room opens for the second set at 10 p.m., with music pushing well
past midnight; that cover, including a three-course dinner and Champagne
toast, is $155. The music will be broadcast live on WBGO-FM (88.3) from 11
p.m. to 12:15 a.m.

JOE FARNSWORTH AND FRIENDS, Kitano Hotel, 66 Park Avenue, at 38th Street,
(212) 885-7125. Seemingly the No. 1 drummer for the current crop of hard-bop
revivalists ‹ he's a fixture at Smoke, playing with Harold Mabern, George
Coleman, Eric Alexander and others ‹ Joe Farnsworth will jam past midnight
with his friends and colleagues. The first New Year's Eve set runs from 9:30
to 10:45 p.m. and second set from 11:15 p.m. to 12:30 a.m.; the cover charge
is $15, and the minimum, $10, for each set.

FUNKBOX, Smoke, 2751 Broadway, at 106th Street, (212) 864-6662. A sextet
playing funk, soul and 1960's and 70's-style R&B. Two sets of music plus
DJ's spinning records in the intervals for New Year's Eve; there is an open
bar from 9:30 p.m. to 2 a.m. and a Champagne toast at midnight. The cover is
$125. 

* ROY HARGROVE AND FRIENDS, Jazz Gallery, 290 Hudson Street, at Spring
Street, South Village, (212) 242-1063. In Roy Hargrove's band are the singer
Renee Neufville, the saxophonist Jaleel Shaw, the pianist Stephen Scott, the
bassist Ugonna Ukegwo and the drummer Johnathan Blake. For New Year's Eve,
the first set is 8 to 10 p.m.; admission is $50. The second set is from
10:30 p.m. to 1 a.m.; admission is $75 and includes a Champagne toast. The
third set runs from 1:30 to 3 a.m. and costs $40. Beer, wine, soda and
coffee are free.

* SHIRLEY HORN, Le Jazz Au Bar, 41 East 58th Street, Manhattan, (212)
308-9455. Like so many great American singers, Shirley Horn has Louis
Armstrong inflections stamped on her style. They take the form of rhythmic
risks over a steady pulse; you listen to her and sense that she could phrase
a line however she wanted. But what has always made her different is her
ice-menthol delivery in slow tempos, which tend to be more commanding in
performance than on record. She'll be recording a new live album for Verve
during this engagement at Le Jazz Au Bar. On New Year's Eve sets are at 8
and 10:30 p.m.; the cover charge is $100 for either set, which includes a
Champagne toast during the second set.

* CHRISTIAN McBRIDE QUARTET, Jazz Standard, 116 East 27th Street, Manhattan,
(212) 576-2232. One of the most virtuosic jazz musicians to emerge during
the 1990's, the bassist Christian McBride indulges his interests in
straight-ahead jazz as much as funk and pop and other areas; he'll play here
with a quartet including the saxophonist Ron Blake, the pianist Geoff Keezer
and the drummer Terreon Gully, with the singer Melissa Walker accompanying
the band. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a 7:30 New Year's Eve show; the cover
charge is $95 and includes a three-course dinner. Doors open at 9:30 for the
10:30 p.m. show, and the cover charge is $150, including a three-course
dinner and Champagne at midnight.

JANIS SIEGEL, Birdland, 315 West 44th Street, Clinton, (212) 581-3080.
Famous as a member of the a capella jazz group Manhattan Transfer, Janis
Siegel has been making her own solo records as well; the most recent,
"Sketches of Broadway," features jazz arrangements of theater songs. Here
she's backed by a quartet including the guitarist Romero Lubambo. On New
Year's Eve her first set is at 8 p.m.; the cover charge is $40 and the
minimum is $20. The second set is at 11 p.m., with a $75 cover and $20
minimum, includes Champagne.

* DR. MICHAEL WHITE'S ORIGINAL LIBERTY JAZZ BAND OF NEW ORLEANS,Village
Vanguard, 178 Seventh Avenue South, at 11th Street, West Village, (212)
255-4037. The doors open at 8:30 p.m. on New Year's Eve and the first set
begins at 9:30 p.m.; a second set starts at 11:30. The charge for the entire
evening is $125, which includes the $25 drink minimum and New Orleans-style
food. Reservations and a deposit are necessary.

CASSANDRA WILSON, Blue Note, 131 West Third Street, West Village, (212)
475-8592. Cassandra Wilson plays to jazz audiences, but isn't concerned with
old definitions of the music. She's vaguely bohemian, though no one is more
cosmopolitan; she has invented a playhouse of southern-rustic allusions,
jazz standards, singer-songwriter music and pop-art radio hits, from
"Corcovado" to Cyndi Lauper. She reshuffles the deck for instrumentation,
putting a conga player next to a harmonica player who makes cello noises,
next to a jazz guitarist playing folk or rural blues. Somehow ‹ her dusky
alto voice helps ‹ the end result is original, self-conscious art, mellow
and conspiratorially playful. Her band now includes the harmonica player
Gregoire Maret, the guitarist Marvin Sewell, the bassist Reginald Veal and
the percussionist Jeffrey Haynes. Each set begins with the opening act of
Cephas & Wiggins, the Piedmont-blues guitar-and-voice duo. The first set on
New Year's Eve begins at 7 p.m.; the $55 cover charge at the bar and $75 at
tables include a Champagne toast. The second set is sold out.

THE WOLLESONS, 55 Bar, 55 Christopher Street, West Village, (212) 929-9883.
A funk-jazz group led by the drummer Kenny Wolleson, who has played all over
the map of New York jazz. Music starts at 11 p.m. on New year's Eve; the
cover is $20, including a Champagne toast.


OF IF YOU ARE A LITTLE MORE ADVENTUROUS, TRY THESE FOR AN OFF BEAT, NYC
EXPERIENCE: NOTE THAT THE LAST VENUE HAS THE HIGHEST ADMISSION PRICE. NOTE
ALSO WHAT THEY ARE SELLING. :-) VBG


FORT BRAGG, Rodeo Bar, 375 Third Avenue, at 27th Street, Manhattan, (212)
683-6500. A country band of Texans transplanted to New York City, Fort Bragg
looks toward Austin, Nashville and Bakersfield, Calif., to sing about
whiskey, the road and woman trouble. New Year's Eve, the first set begins at
10 p.m.; admission is FREE.

GOGOL BORDELLO, Northsix, 66 North Sixth Street, Williamburg, Brooklyn,
(718) 599-5103. Gogol Bordello, led by a gruff and extravagantly mustached
Ukrainian singer, Eugene Hutz, calls itself a Gypsy punk band. Its songs
work up to a frenetic oom-pah that's the makings of a rowdy party. New
Year's Eve at 9; tickets are $30 in advance, $35 on Dec. 31.

EARTHA KITT, B. B. King Blues Club and Grill, 243 West 42nd Street, near
Times Square, (212) 997-4144. She purrs, she growls, she teases and she
rasps as she insinuates exactly what she wants from her man. Although it's a
week late, she might still sing "Santa Baby." New Year's Eve at 8 p.m.;
tickets are $140, including dinner and a glass of Champagne, and $50 for
general-admission seats plus a $10 food or drink minimum with a
complimentary glass of Champagne. At the 10:30 p.m. set, tickets are $165,
including dinner and a glass of Champagne. General admission is $75 with a
$10 food or drink minimum, which includes a free glass of Champagne.


FRANK LONDON'S KLEZMER BRASS ALL-STARS/SCOTT KETTNER'S MARACATU NEW YORK,
the Knitting Factory Tap Bar, 74 Leonard Street, TriBeCa (212) 219-3006.
Party music from two continents: the oom-pah of klezmer in a band led by the
trumpeter Frank London, and the Brazilian carnival beat of maracatu from
Maracatu New York. New Year's Eve at 8 p.m.; admission is $15.


PEACHES, TriBeCa Grand, 2 Avenue of the Americas, at Church Street, (212)
519-6677. With deadpan calm and rhyming skills so modest that Lil' Kim won't
be losing any sleep, Peaches raps about sex, sex and more sex over
bare-bones drum-machine beats and sampled power chords. It's a dopey
high-concept shtick that can turn into stupid fun. New Year's Eve, doors
open at 10 p.m., and the disc jockeys including Spencer Product, DJ
Language, Edward Newton and others until 8 a.m. Tickets are $99.