HOTTER THAN THAT! CELEBRATING THE HOT FIVE AT THE HOT CLUB: ANDREW STEPHENS, SAM CHESS, JAY RATTMAN, BRENNEN ERNST, DEVAN KORTAN, RILEY BAKER, DAVIDE SGARRA (The Hot Club of New York, Room 307, 20 West 20th Street, November 12, 2025)

An electrifying evening.

From left, Matthew Rivera, guiding genius of the Hot Club of New York; Sam Chess, trombone; Riley Baker, double bass; Andrew Stephens, trumpet; Devan Kortan, banjo; Jay Rattman, clarinet; Brennen Ernst, piano. Not seen: Davide Sgarra, clarinet. Photograph by Nathan Tokunaga.

Here’s what I wrote about it the next morning:

Last night at 20 West 20th Street, the home of the Hot Club of New York, was a delight. The occasion was the centennial of Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five recording for OKeh. We heard a few of the original 78s in glowing unaltered fidelity, thanks to the Wizard of Shellac (and more), Matt Rivera. And we heard more, and properly so, about “Miss Lil,” pianist, composer, and masterful intelligence behind so many creations.

But what followed after was like a trip to jazz paradise, up close and vibrant. Trumpeter-scholar Andrew Stephens led his own Hot Five through a dozen selections, all but a few from Louis’ repertoire on record 1925-28. The other members of the group were Sam Chess, trombone; Jay Rattman, clarinet and alto saxophone; Brennen Ernst, piano; Devan Kortan, banjo, Riley Baker, double bass; and guest Davide Sgarra, clarinet. In the audience, transfixed, was clarinetist Nathan Tokunaga. West 20th Street will never be the same: workmen were out surveying the seismic changes of that band and a roaring audience. They played MY HEART — first as a waltz, the way Lil wrote it — and then as a rocking stomp. Other delights were Jay Rattman’s soulful alto feature on IF WE NEVER MEET AGAIN, ORIENTAL STRUT, STRUTTIN’ WITH SOME BARBECUE, and TWO DEUCES.

Yes, there will be video. But as we say in my hood, “You shoulda been there.” Oh, I forgot: the room was sold out and there was a waiting list. Thank you, musicians; thank you, Matthew; thank you, Lil and Louis!

The band was thrilling: honoring the shapes of the original recordings and some of the solos, but this wasn’t an exercise in reverent reproduction of honored sounds, notes transcribed and then played from the paper. Nor was it a loose jam session on the themes. Rather, it felt and sounded like an exuberant dramatic exercise in imagination: how would Louis and friends have sounded if they weren’t a) forced to stand around a recording horn, and b) confined to 3:20? So the band romped. And there were other imaginative ventures that came off splendidly: Lil’s MY HEART as it was originally conceived, as a waltz; Jay Rattman’s soulful reading of the Thirties IF WE NEVER MEET AGAIN; the Louis-and-Lil classic TEARS, performed when both were members of King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band.

THE FIRST SET: GUT BUCKET BLUES / YES! I’M IN THE BARREL / MY HEART (waltz) / MY HEART (stomp) / WHO’S IT / TWO DEUCES / NO ONE ELSE BUT YOU / YOU MADE ME LOVE YOU //

THE SECOND SET: ORIENTAL STRUT / IF WE NEVER MEET AGAIN (Jay, alto) / SKID-DAT-DE-DAT / DON’T FORGET TO MESS AROUND (When You’re Doing the Charleston) / TEARS / STRUTTIN’ ITH SOME BARBECUE //

Andrew has plans for another celebration in February 2026. Keep your eyes on the Hot Club of New York, and the race (for tickets) is to the swift after the HCNY got beautiful coverage in the New York Times on Halloween (here) sessions at West 20th Street have sold out, and fast. Carpe Hot, my friends.

Just a postscript from your friendly local blogger. I am very fortunate to have seen so many life-changing jazz sessions, beginning with the first one, on April 23, 1967: Louis Armstrong and his All Stars. Yes, I started at the top. But what happened on November 12, 2025, will be reverberating in my mind and heart for a long long time. Beauty, passion, exactitude, wildness, and communal joy. We cannot ask anything more from music and musicians, I am sure.

May your happiness increase!

THE GOLDEN AGE IS NOW (Part Two): KRISSIE NAGY, ARNT ARNTZEN, DANNY TOBIAS, JEN HODGE, DEVAN KORTAN, ANDREW STEPHENS (Sunny’s Bar, Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, January 28, 2024)

On Sunday night, the 28th, I made a musical pilgrimage to another one of the half-hidden spots where inventive heartfelt music flourishes, Sunny’s Bar on Conover Street in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York.

I brought back delightful evidence. 

First, I SURRENDER, DEAR, featuring Arnt Arntzen, banjo and vocal; Danny Tobias, trumpet; Jen Hodge, double bass. 

YOUR HONOR, THIS IS WHERE I WAS ON THE NIGHT OF JANUARY 28, 2024. AND I WAS GLAD.

Then, MEAN TO ME, with Krissie Nagy, vocal; Devan Kortan, banjo; Arnt, Danny, and Jen. 

THE GOLDEN AGE IS NOW: KRISSIE NAGY, ARNT ARNTZEN, DANNY TOBIAS, JEN HODGE, DEVAN KORTAN (Sunny’s Bar, Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, January 28, 2024)

Now, following the trail of thrilling sounds, we add Andrew Stephens, trumpet, to the mix for a wonderfully playful UNDECIDED:

I want to reiterate what I wrote, because I don’t think it can be over-emphasized:

Even if you don’t live in an urban center full of live jazz, the pulse of swing and the emotions of candid music are all around us. In practical terms, support living musicians. Even if “your music” was theoretically at its peak in 1918, there are actual people playing it now all around the globe. And they need audiences who will pay attention to them. Don’t let today’s and tomorrow’s pleasures slip away while you are getting into bed with the past. You can’t snuggle up with a Gennett, although people keep trying.

I send gratitude to Sunny’s Bar, to Arnt, Danny, Jen, Krissie, Devan, Andrew, and the hundreds of music-heroes I know and revere, for not only having the skill and the ideas but also the strength and devotion to keep on creating, for themselves and us. 

May your happiness increase!

THE GOLDEN AGE IS NOW: KRISSIE NAGY, ARNT ARNTZEN, DANNY TOBIAS, JEN HODGE, DEVAN KORTAN (Sunny’s Bar, Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, January 28, 2024)

In jazz, the audience is often looking over its shoulder at some imagined or envisioned Golden Age. It could have been Bird and Diz on Fifty-Second Street, or 1926 Chicago, or Miles in 1955, the Vocalion studios in 1938 . . . you can name your own fantasy. If you know Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poetry, think of Miniver Cheevy.

But, dear watchers and listeners, the Golden Age is NOW.

I submit, for your delectation, a performance that happened on January 28, 2024, at Sunny’s Bar in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York. Krissie Nagy, who leads her own band, Krissie and the Kranks, sat in with Arnie and his Rhythm — that’s Arnt Arntzen, banjo, Danny Tobias, trumpet and seafood-can mute, Jen Hodge, double bass — and there were other guest artists: on this performance, Devan Kortan, banjo.

Krissie not only knows but embodies what Louis Armstrong called “tonation and phrasing,” with fervor but without artificiality; Danny Tobias sounds like a Basie small group all by himself; Arnt Arntzen calls a lovely tempo; the two banjo players are subtle and in sync; Jen Hodge is her usual supportive, then eloquent self.

Watch, and then watch again.

And both Krissie and Arnt have new — debut — CDs available (heralded on this blog, by the way)!

Even if you don’t live in an urban center full of live jazz, the pulse of swing and the emotions of candid music are all around us. In practical terms, support living musicians. Even if “your music” was theoretically at its peak in 1918, there are actual people playing it now all around the globe. And they need audiences who will pay attention to them. Don’t let today’s and tomorrow’s pleasures slip away while you are getting into bed with the past. You can’t snuggle up with a Gennett, although people keep trying. 

May your happiness increase!

YOUR HONOR, THIS IS WHERE I WAS ON THE NIGHT OF JANUARY 28, 2024. AND I WAS GLAD.

Why was I there? It wasn’t only for the life-changing brisket sandwich at Hometown Bar-Be-Que, around the corner on Van Brunt Street. 

No, I’d come down from the Bronx to Conover Street in Red Hook for an evening of music by ARNIE AND HIS RHYTHM: Arnt Arntzen, vocal, banjo, guitar; Danny Tobias, trumpet, Eb alto horn; Jen Hodge, double bass, sousaphone, vocal. And, later in the evening, guest appearances by Krissie Nagy, vocal; Andrew Stephens, trumpet; Devan Kortan, banjo. 

And, Your Honor, if I may have the court’s permission, I have evidence: this lovely performance of I SURRENDER, DEAR, the second song of the evening, at or around 8:15 PM, EST. 

If I may explain: a beautiful hot lament, evoking Bing and Louis, always a good idea. The Ministers of Melody, the Eminences of Emotion are Arnt Arntzen, banjo, vocal; Danny Tobias, trumpet; Jen Hodge, double bass. Eloquent and touching:

“Case dismissed,” Your Honor? I thank you. 

Before you say, “Court adjourned,” did you know that Arnie, Danny, and Vince Giordano will be performing at Cafe Ornithology on Wednesday, January 31? And have you purchased your copy of KEEP YOUR SUNNY SIDE UP, by Arnie and his Rhythm?

All right, Your Honor. I’ll be quiet now. You may ask the bailiff to let go of my arms.

May your happiness increase!