One of the delights of living in a place like New York City, with a thriving jazz scene, is that one can encounter stellar musicians who don’t yet have major record-label support, publicists sending out emails, loud social media presences. But they can really play, and as a bonus, they turn out to be gracious human beings.
Such a person is saxophonist Adam Frumkin, who I met on the bandstand for the first time just a week ago, at that oasis called Cafe Ornithology (1037 Broadway, Bushwick, Brooklyn) when he and two other luminaries, double bassist Dan Weisselberg and guitarist Felix Lemerle, were presenting a program in honor of saxophonist Lucky Thompson, guitarist Skeeter Best, and double bassist Oscar Pettiford. In the set I captured, this trio evoked rather than copied, playing three jazz classics associated with that trio, two standards, and one Ellington classic.
The music was compact, lyrical, and intense: three soloists, each of whom knew deep things about melody and harmonies, but who worked together as a lovely portable orchestra, a harmonious small community. A privilege to be there, to hear this music, and to share it with you.
LOOK FOR THE SILVER LINING:
A LADY’S VANITY:
OP MEETS LT:
GONE WITH THE WIND:
IN A SENTIMENTAL MOOD:
TRICROTISM:
I hope that readers who live in or near New York City will take the opportunity to show up at places Adam, Felix, and Dan play, separately as well as together, and that people who have never heard the Lucky Thompson trio (and quintet) recordings will find them and savor them.
And if you are looking for a congenial place with superb food and service as well as uplifting music, Cafe Ornithology remains an oasis.
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 