Smoke Jazz Club

The Sextet Next Week

I’m making my leader debut at Smoke Jazz Club with Jonathan Finlayson, Sam Newsome, Jacob Garchik, Peter Washington, and Kush Abadey. In the repertoire are jazz classics by Mal Waldron and Thelonious Monk as well as half-a-dozen Iverson originals. The new blues is called “Listen to Reason.” (I’m having fun orchestrating for three horns, I can see why Herbie Hancock had a sextet.)

Jonathan, Sam, and Jacob have important careers as creative jazz personalities, but they know me from lots of gigs with the Mark Morris Dance Group in Pepperland or The Look of Love. This a rare chance where we get to stretch out.

The horns have ballad features, of course:

“Infant Eyes” (Wayne Shorter) for Jonathan Finlayson
“A Flower is a Lovesome Thing” (Billy Strayhorn) for Sam Newsome
“Blueberry Hill” (Scott/Lewis/Rose a la Fats Domino) for Jacob Garchik

Kush Abadey is on my last record Technically Acceptable and toured with me earlier this year. It’s really been fun discovering the correct space between us.

Peter Washington is the star and the only regular denizen of Smoke. Peter and I have been playing together a bit in recent years. Everyone knows that Peter is one of very best — ever — and I think we bring out interesting things from each other.

It’s a hell of a band (if I do say so myself).

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Paul Stache is almost exactly my age, we were born within a day or so of each other in February 1973.

In 1991 I left high school in Wisconsin and went to New York; the first night I was in town I went to the Village Vanguard to hear Joe Lovano with Tom Harrell, John Abercrombie, Rufus Reid, and Ed Blackwell.

In 1992 Paul Stache (a committed bebop fan) got off a plane from Germany and went straight to Augie’s on the Upper West Side, where he heard Art Taylor and Cecil Payne. He was simply astonished to hear his heroes up close in an intimate joint. He loved the spot and the musicians, and began working there as a server and bartender under the watchful eye of owner Gus Cuartas.

After Cuartas left the business, Stache took over the space and built a new spot, Smoke Jazz Club, on the site of the former Augie’s. The chef is Molly Sparrow.

Smoke has been a temple for the serious cats. Photos of George Coleman and Harold Mabern preside over the club. (I took this photo at Christmas, that’s why there’s a wreath.)

Wikipedia has an interesting tidbit:

Smoke opened on April 9, 1999 with an inaugural performance by saxophonist George Coleman’s Quartet featuring pianist Harold Mabern. Both artists helped define the Smoke sound and became frequent performers at the club. Mabern asserted that “Smoke is the greatest jazz club in the world.” Smoke’s name was inspired by writer Paul Auster who based his character Auggie Wren on Gus Cuartas. Harvey Keitel portrayed Auggie in the 1995 film Smoke, the title of which gave the club its name.

The only time I saw Cedar Walton and Buster Williams together was at Smoke. The only time I saw George Cables and Jimmy Cobb together was at Smoke.

It’s an honor to be invited! See you there.