It’s no secret, but some have yet to recognize that some of New York City’s best jazz performances are by longtime jazz impresario Arnie Perez, co-founder of VTY Jazz, Sunday Serenade. The series, which began more than a dozen years ago, has presented such established musicians as Billy Harper, Jermey Pelt, Mark Whitfield, Melvis Santa, Chembo Corneil, Elio Villafranca, Josh Evans, and Charles Tolliver.
Perez and co-founder Nat White (transitioned in 2020) have united artists in configurations that rarely come together on the jazz circuit. Arnie’s goal is to introduce these artists as they pay tribute and awareness to many renowned artists, alive and deceased, who have contributed so much to this music called jazz.
On September 7, Sunday Serenade will celebrate the 83rd birthday of bassist and educator Dr. Larry Ridley at the Cutting Room (44 East 32nd Street). The featured ensemble will include saxophonist Patience Higgins, trumpeter Duane Eubanks, pianist David Hazeltine, bassist Asante Debriano, and drummer Adam Cruz.
The Indiana native’s distinctive career found him as a mainstay in ensembles led by James Moody, Duke Ellington, and Thelonious Monk. He didn’t record many albums as a leader, but his creative playing allowed him to appear on a wealth of acclaimed recordings, such as “The Night of the Cookers: Live at Club la Marchal, Vol. 1” (Blue Note, 1965), Jackie McLean’s “Jacknife” (Blue Note, 1965), Horace Silver “The Jody Grind” (Blue Note, 1966), Lee Morgan’s “Cornbread” (Blue Note, 1965), and Hank Mobley’s “Straight No Filter” (Blue Note, 1989).
He earned his doctorate degree in performing arts at the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. With an interest in jazz education, he was a founding member of the Rutgers Institute for Jazz Studies where he accepted a position as a member of the jazz faculty. He was responsible for inviting a host of renowned musicians to the jazz program, including Kenny Barron, Don Friedman, Freddie Waits, and famed guitarist Ted Dunbar (often under the radar, but who taught Vernon Reid, Peter Bernstein, and Kevin Eubanks, as an early member of the Rutgers jazz faculty).
Taking on the unspoken role as education activist during his tenure at Rutgers sparked Dr. Ridley to play an important role in forming the Black Jazz Music Caucus of the National Association of Jazz Educators (1977), which now operates as the African American Jazz Caucus (AAJC). The purpose of the organization was to increase “representation of African American Jazz artists and educators within the larger body of the Jazz Educators Association.”
Although Dr. Ridley has retired from playing, he still enjoys a good jazz show, having been seen at Dizzy’s jazz club and other hip spots; it is hoped that he will make an appearance at the Cutting Room for his big birthday celebration (3 p.m.–5:45 p.m.). For reservations, call 917-882-9539 or visit thecuttingroomnyc.com.
The historic St. Nick’s Pub, formerly at 733 St. Nicholas Avenue, was instantly recognized as Harlem’s jazz mecca in 1940. It was originally known as Luckey’s Rendezvous, owned by pianist and composer Charles Luckeyeth Roberts. His nightly jam sessions included jazz icons like Art Tatum, Sonny Rollins, and Charlie Parker.
During the Pub’s 1994 resurgence, it became an international jazz workshop where young musicians (from Harlem to Australia) faithfully interned weekly on Monday nights with a revolving door of such established artists as Wynton Marsalis, Savion Glover, Olu Dara, a young Gregory Porter, Donald Smith, Vanessa Rubin, and James Carter, among many others.
Most recently, jazz producer, actor, and singer Rome Neal debuted his independent documentary “Patience Higgins and His Sugar Hill Quartet’s Last Night at St. Nick’s Pub.” The 50-minute film features a memorable performance by Higgins and his Sugar Hill Quartet, the original all-star Monday night house band that featured pianist Marcus Persiani, bassists Andy McCloud and Alex Hernandez, and bandleader Higgins. In one specific scene, viewers will see a young Tia Fuller jamming away. Bright reflections of the Pub are offered by the late drummer David F. Gibson, Kathy Farmer, Bill Saxton, TC III, and others.
“I wanted to make sure this documentary was debuted in Harlem, the home of one of its most cherished jazz spots,” said Rome. “St. Nick’s Pub and those great Monday nights began in Harlem and lasted for over a decade.” Harlem’s longtime jazz promoter and producer Berta Indeed founded St. Nick’s Monday nights and played a role in naming the famous house band the Sugar Hill Quartet that became one of Harlem’s most popular ensembles.
Neal’s film debut was a big bash that he kicked off at the historic Faison Firehouse Theater, founded in 1999 by Tony Award-winning choreographer George Faison and Tad Schnugg. Faison greeted the sold-out house, offering some history of the 25-year old theater where Maya Angelou, Spike Lee, and others gathered for various events.
It was a lively St. Nick’s Pub reunion, with many former Pub regulars, jazz fans, celebs, and musicians. The Sugar Hill Quartet, featuring bandleader Higgins, bassist Lonnie Plaxico, drummer Winard Harper, and pianist Issac Ben Ayala, lit up the Firehouse with blazing rhythms that later highlighted a burning jam session. And what would a Rome Neal production be without his famous banana puddin’, still a number one crowd pleaser?
In his five decades, tenor saxophonist, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Joe Lovano has made a point of being the musical adventurer. He’s explored many shades of the music: playing in the warm textures of pianist Hank Jones, finding the soul of jazz with organists Dr. Lonnie Smith and Jack McDuff, and roaring in straight-ahead jazz with the big bands of Woody Herman and Mel Lewis. He moved outside the box with John Zorn’s Masada Quintet, “Stolas: Book of Angels, Volume 12” (Tzadik, 2009), and he found new territory with his quintet Us Five that featured two drummers Francisco Mela and Otis Brown III, along with bassist Esparanza Spalding and pianist James Weidman.
His current touring band, the Joe Lavano Paramount Quartet, recently sold out the storied Village Vanguard for their entire six-night engagement. The quartet featured the inventive guitarist Julian Lage; Panamanian bassist Asante Santi Debriano, who blends his homeland rhythms; and drummer Will Calhoun, who refuses to be categorized into any boxed-genre.
They played everything from Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk to tunes like “New Amsterdam” led by Calhoun, who brought some melodic fire to the stage with a fierce bass solo of assorted colors. On Wayne Shorter’s “Lady Day,” the guitar was all aglow swinging in altered directions. The Paramount Quartet is a tight unit — a collage of straight-ahead, pure creativity. They blend melodic and rhythmic influences of African roots with the freedom of avant-gardism and hipness of contemporary jazz, with Lovano alternating on soprano sax.
There is an openness in Paramount’s piano-less configuration. Ornette Coleman explained to me, some years ago, that he chose not to use the piano because “it takes up too much space.” That sounds simple enough, but Ornette never spoke in literal terms and it’s that obvious musicians would grasp what he was saying immediately: Simply, the piano takes up a lot of playing space within the group’s sound. “Well, first, Ornette’s answer would depend on who was playing piano,” as Joe chuckled with me backstage. “Personally, I really like the sound we have without the piano. We are having a lot of fun and playing some different music.”
The sound of Paramount can’t be denied — the innovative sound is the collective contributions of Lovano, Calhoun, Asante, and the guitar of Lage. Taking on a piano-less project is still a revolutionary move, but Lovano reveled for some years in playing with drummer Paul Motian’s trio with guitarist Bill Frissell and doing quartet work with guitarist John Scofield. The West African guitarist Lionel Loueke appeared on the saxophonist’s album “Cross Culture” (Blue Note, 2013). Joe Lovano’s Paramount is an inventive quartet, exploring new music in the moment while finding new phrasing and sounds within the core of whatever they play.