REMEMBERING FRANK DRIGGS — WITH MUSIC (Oct. 18, 2011)

What better way to remember and celebrate the jazz historian and archivist Frank Driggs, who died last month at 81, than with the hot music of Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks? 

A lively “memorial service” in honor of Mr. Driggs will take place on October 18, 2011, at Sofia’s Ristorante, downstairs in the Edison Hotel (211 West 46th Street) from 8-11 PM.  Doors open at 7 PM. 

This setting and the nature of the celebration are more than appropriate, because Vince nd the Nighthawks play the music that Mr. Driggs both loved dearly and documented.  In fact, I first met Mr. Driggs and his companion, the writer Joan Peyser (she died in April 2011) at Sofia’s and saw the two of them there, enjoying the music, many times. 

I think that every musician in the Nighthawks could point to a beloved recording first issued on a compilation (record or CD) supervised by Frank Driggs or one which he annotated.  We all owe him a great deal, and I expect to be at Sofia’s to join in the celebration of a life devoted to the music we love.

If you know only a little about Frank Driggs, here is his obituary in The New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/arts/music/frank-driggs-jazz-age-historian-and-photo-collector-dies-at-81.html?_r=1

And here is a link to eleven photographs Mr. Driggs had acquired — out of the one hundred thousand photographs and pieces of jazz arcana:

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2011/09/25/arts/music/DRIGGS.html

Make your reservations early!  Details below:

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VINCE, GREAT NEWS, HOT MUSIC, SWING DANCERS! (May 24, 2010)

Last night, Monday, May 24, 2010, I went to Club Cache, which is part of Sofia’s Ristorante, in the lower level of the Hotel Edison, 221 West 46th Street, New York City — to hear Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks, who play there every Monday from 8-11. 

The GREAT NEWS is that beginning June 1, Vince and the boys will be playing at Sofia’s not only Monday but TUESDAYS . . . giving us two chances to hear their wide repertoire.  Double your pleasure, double your fun . . .

The HOT MUSIC and SWING DANCERS follow below.  The first was provided, lavishly, by Vince himself, Jon-Erik Kellso, Mike Ponella (trumpets), Harvey Tibbs (trombone), Dan Levinson, Mark Lopeman, Andy Farber (reeds), Andy Stein (violin), Pater Yarin (piano and celeste), Ken Salvo (banjo and guitar), and Arnie Kinsella (drums).  And the accompanying dancing was made possible by Scott McNabb and Cheryll Lynn; Eric Schlesinger and Joan Leibowitz; Ruthanne Geraghty and James Lake — as well as other stylish sliders whose names I didn’t get.  I was in the back of the room amidst Jackie Kellso and Molly Ryan; other notables scattered around included Rich Conaty, Lloyd Moss, Joan Peyser, Frank Driggs, Sandy Jaffe, Barbara and Dick Dreiwitz.

Here are four performances, recorded from the back of the room to capture the entire ambiance, both frisky and musically immensely rewarding:

SAY YES TODAY is an even more obscure song — circa 1928, summoning up the sound of the Roger Wolfe Kahn band in an Arthur Schutt arrangement:

What would a jazz evening be without a little Morton?  Here’s LITTLE LAWRENCE, one of Jelly Roll’s later Victor efforts, transcribed by Jim Dapogny, a peerless Morton scholar and pianist himself:

LAZY RIVER, written by Hoagy Carmichael and Sidney Arodin, is an opportunity for some hot small-band improvisation by Jon-Erik, Harvey, Dan, and the rhythm section:

And I HEARD (a mock-stern sermon about the wickedness of gossip) is taken twice as fast as the original Don Redman chart:

Irreplaceable, wouldn’t you say?  (And on Tuesdays, too, Toto!)