Statistics: Posted by rlfun — January 8th, 2024, 2:01 pm
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
]]>
Enjoying!
Statistics: Posted by jtx — April 28th, 2022, 4:28 pm
]]>
Steve Turre (tr) Josh Evans (tr),Vincent Harring (as), Mike Ledonne (p), Peter Washington (b), Orion Turre (d)
Live at Smalls Jazz Club - New York City - 4/22/22
for more info - www.smallslive.com
Statistics: Posted by rlfun — April 22nd, 2022, 5:12 pm
]]>
Dear Friends -
On March 16th, 2020, I saw something that I had never seen before in all my time in New York City - restaurants giving away all their food. It wasn't a block party or a festival. It was an order from our governor to shut down all businesses in New York City as a preemptive measure against the oncoming COVID pandemic. Restaurants knew they had to get rid of all their perishables and started just giving away food to anyone who could take it - steaks, bread, dairy. The business had been slowing down considerably in the preceding week and bands were canceling left and right. I still couldn't seem to get my mind around what was about to happen to us. My friend Jesse Davis called me from Italy and warned me that I had no idea what we were in for. I remember thinking he was nuts. I thought that we'd be closed two or three nights at best - there was no way they were going to close us for a week. How wrong I was. So, now, here we are nearly two years later to the day. Having survived a year and half of being closed and then another 6 months of severe restrictions to our capacity, hours, and operation.
Now things feel like they are "normal" - the new normal, I guess. The clubs are packed again and it's beginning to really feel vibrant again. I'm still seeing faces coming out of the woodwork, slightly bewildered and knocking the cobwebs out, but joyous and grateful to be back in our confines. We definitely fought hard for this - the right to be open and present music. I will always look back at this period with feelings of awe, fear, amazement, and an overwhelming sense of gratitude to all the friends, musicians, fans, and supporters who kept us alive.
As usual, we have an amazing lineup ahead of us for the week. Please take a moment to peruse our shows and consider coming down to hear some of this live. As always, we livestream all our shows from our own website as well as our Facebook and Youtube pages for no charge. I wish everyone a peaceful and productive week and look forward to seeing you at the club.
Sincerest Regards,
Spike
Statistics: Posted by rlfun — March 14th, 2022, 3:44 pm
]]>
Dear Friends:
At the end of this month will mark 15 years that I've been involved in operating and managing Smalls Jazz Club. My college buddy, Lee Kostrinsky, and I came in with the creator of Smalls, Mitch Borden, to partner up and run the club back in February of 2007. There's been quite a bit of transition since then. Our city has changed in so many ways. The jazz scene has changed in so many ways. So many of our friends and colleagues have transitioned. Both Lee and Mitch have gone on their own separate ways and I am now alone here. It's a strange feeling. Sometimes I come to the club and look around and realize that I am the only person left from back in 1994 when the club started. I look at the photos on the walls and I feel like a ghost - the proverbial ghost in the machine. As they say in Buddhism, "clinging to the reeds". Just me, haunting this sacred temple grounds, peeking around corners and watching as the world changes before me.
And yet, sometimes I stand on the foot of the stairs and peer into the tumult of the crowd. The music is vibrant and swinging and the club is packed. Everyone is vibing, the servers are delivering their drink orders in perfect tempo. The audience is ecstatic. Even though the faces have changed, the spirit is still there, this club is still so very much alive. Perhaps dingy and battered but nonetheless resilient with the strength of survival. The survival of our music and our scene and the victory of the Human Spirit over the crushing banality of our new corporate world. We live, Smalls lives, Jazz lives.
I look forward to seeing everyone at the clubs and wish everyone a happy and productive week.
Sincerest Regards,
Spike
Statistics: Posted by rlfun — February 14th, 2022, 10:08 am
]]>
Dear Friends:
Smalls and Mezzrow are chugging along, through the thick and the thin of it. I am reluctant to report too much because it seems that everything I write lately is misconstrued and I get some rather angry responses. I don't want to turn the clubs into lightning rods or for people to think I am making any kind of political statements when it is not my intention. But in a way, it seems that what do and have done for 25 years, which is to have people gathered in a club to listen to live jazz performances, is in itself subversive by today's standards. All I can say is that we work hard to maintain the guidelines we are given by the city. We are doing what we are told. However, audiences are coming for shows, musicians are coming for jam session and the artists are creating gorgeous and important music night after night. If anything, the music feels like it's on a higher level than I remember it ever being on. Everyone is serious and these times seem to have filtered away posers and hangers-on and just left the core to preserve the flame.
We've had quite a bit of loss. Our great maestro and teacher Barry Harris has transitioned. Barry lived as full and productive a life as anyone could possibly want. He left a legacy of students and disciples (including myself) who absorbed his lessons and vibe and can hopefully take that spark and light candles to burn in the future. As Buddha said, "thousands of candles may be lit from one candle and its life is not diminished in the least". But we've also lost many other musicians. I am thinking of my very dear friend Montez Coleman, the great and vivacious drummer who was Roy Hargrove's right-hand man for so many years. His smile lit the room when he came in and few were as beloved. He passed at age 45 last week. Holes in the wall - each brick holds its place and as they are removed create a more weakened structure. Our jazz wall has many holes but is nonetheless standing.
And now - another week ahead of us, as usual. Great bands, jam sessions, live streams, recordings - we keep our business of making jazz. We face the challenges but the music is too important to simply quit or stay "temporarily" closed - we will not have it. I hope you can join us, if not in person then virtually through our live stream.
I send everyone my best wishes for a happy and productive week.
Regards,
Spike
Statistics: Posted by rlfun — January 17th, 2022, 8:24 am
]]>
]]>
Point of Departure
Statistics: Posted by jtx — December 11th, 2021, 7:07 pm
]]>
]]>