From: New York Now | Music |
Friday, October 02, 1998
Lower East
Side
Becoming Jazz Paradise
By GENE SANTORO
 an you catch
a jazz gig these days and come out with both arms and your wallet? The answer is yes.
Centered on the lower East Side, but also sprinkled around town, a growing crop of
niche clubs recalls when jazz was the music of the Beat Generation, and artists and poets
forked over a small cover charge and nursed a beer all night to follow the music.
The last few years, jazz has had an image makeover as a tasteful seasoning for the good
life. Stars like Joshua Redman have fashion endorsements. Starbucks loops jazz as its
in-store soundtrack. And Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall host big-bucks jazz concerts.
But check it out: For $15 and less, offbeat spots showcase top-tier jazzers — John
Zorn, Pharoah Sanders, Paul Motian, Bill Frisell, Don Byron, Joe Lovano — exploring
lesser-known sides of their musical personalities. They host emerging artists, new music
on tryout and jam sessions. The results can be cerebral, ear-opening, booty-shaking or
just shaky. But they're usually an adventure.
Low-profile spots keep the door open for talented newcomers and performers without
major-label deals. They're freer of the overhead and industry pressures bigger clubs face.
So they give the musicians more freedom, which is why these rooms have traditionally been
jazz incubators, where new sounds can find their feet, where stars are born.
Standout Gen-Xers on this circuit include saxist Eric Alexander, pianist Ethan Iverson,
drummer Susie Ibarra, bassist Omar Avital and saxist Tony Malaby, as well as rising stars
like drummer Matt Wilson and bassist Ben Allison.
Among the boomers who are critics' faves: saxist Tim Berne, multi-reed man Marty
Ehrlich, trumpeter Dave Douglas, pianist Anthony Coleman, guitarists Vernon Reid and Marc
Ribot, bassist Mark Helias and drummers Rashied Ali and Bobby Previte.
Surprise — most of these places aren't plush. The stage may be a corner. The sound
system and dressing rooms may be nonexistent. One club is still waiting on a liquor
license. But you're not paying for the Copa, remember? And the thrill of shared discovery
that can ripple from stage to audience and back creates its own rich atmosphere and
dynamics — and reaches to the heart of experiencing jazz.
Here are some top stops in Jazzland on $15 or less a day. Happy trails.
Top of the Pops
Detour (349 E. 13th St.; 212-533-6212): Just off First Ave., this bar's
storefront windows look into a square, black-and-white-tiled Art Deco room that feels
somewhere between neighborhood hangout and college-town refuge. Inside, sofas and wooden
chairs and tables face the corner, where the likes of Matt Wilson, a 1997 New York Jazz
Critics Circle award winner, set up. This weekend, entry-level jazzers take the stand;
Oct. 2, Miri Ben Ari, and Oct. 3, Anne Correa. Sundays always host Mike Magilligan's Jazz
Spot. (Sets start at 9 p.m.; no cover.)
Dharma (174 Orchard St.; 212-780-0313): Beat author Jack Kerouac named
one of his books "The Dharma Bums," because he and his cronies were turning to
Zen Buddhism. Set in the heart of the old Jewish lower East Side, this club, where the
band feels like it's playing from up in the rafters, offers its own forms of musical
enlightenment. Music this weekend: Oct. 3, offbeat vibist Bill Ware sets up shop on the
9-foot-high stage. Oct. 3 brings the Latin tang of Sonido Isleno. And Oct. 4, Los
Inolvidables take charge. (10 and 11:30 p.m. and 1 a.m.; no cover.)
Internet Cafe (82 E. Third St.; 212-614-0747):
As low-rent and free-minded as it gets. The long, skinny space, a few steps below street
level, houses a few computers for the surfing set. Back in a corner, critics' choices like
bassists Mark Helias and Michael Formanek lead intense and provocative sessions that range
from tightly rehearsed to pure exploration. Oct. 2, French-horn virtuoso Tom Varner leads
a trio, while Oct. 3 up-and-coming saxman Tony Malaby blows with Robert Blakesley. (Sets
are at 10 and 11:30 p.m.; $7.)
Knitting Factory (74 Leonard St.; 212-219-3006): This is the granddaddy
of current alternative clubs, and its owner's disputes with musicians over unauthorized
Internet broadcasts and pay have helped accelerate competition. Multi-storied, with four
music rooms, the Knit has deep pockets, though, which means it can showcase bands others
can't. The ambience is downtown chic, with yuppies and grungers warily mixing at the bars
and bathrooms. Oct. 2, the Main Space hosts a 20th-anniversary retrospective for
drummer-composer Bobby Previte, a downtown mainstay who leads a variety of bands (8 p.m.
through midnight; $12). All weekend in the Old Office lurks Big Satan, the latest fierce
avant ensemble from veteran altoist-composer Tim Berne (8 and 9:30 p.m.; $10).
Smalls (183 W. 10th St.; 212-929-7565): The scene here: Late-night
college dorm transplanted to the late-night West Village. Down the stairs is a large room,
furnished with Salvation Army sofas and chairs. The refreshments are free munchies and
fruit drinks. But it has generated an exciting young circle of players rethinking big
bands, like Omar Avital and Guillermo Klein and Jason Lindner. Fans can watch the
musicians think at the nightly 3 a.m.-till-8 a.m. jam — and many do. Oct. 2 and 3,
widely admired guitarist Peter Bernstein fronts a quintet (10 p.m., $10). After-hours jam
sessions this weekend feature two sax vets: Oct. 2, Charles Owens; Oct. 3, Frank Hewitt.
Tonic (107 Norfolk St.; 212-358-7503): It used to be a Kedem kosher
winery. Thanks to John Zorn, it became the center of the anti-Knitting Factory backlash
among musicians this spring. With Zorn and pals as its prestigious draws, it has quickly
leapt to the center of the downtown music scene — despite no liquor license and no
air conditioning. (Both are in the works.) This weekend brings John Zorn's Bar Kokhba, a
hard-scrabbling strings-meets-guitar-and-percussion group that regrooves his famed Masada
Quartet's Jewish-blues-meet-jazz sounds (9 and 10:30 p.m., $10). Every Friday offers Sex
Mob, a Lounge Lizards offshoot that's one of the city's hardest-vibing live bands
(midnight, $4).
Runnersup
Homefront (236 W. 54th St.; 212-581-5866). Downtown is a state of mind,
as this spot proves. Check out Joey Sellars' Jazz Aggregation.
Izzy Bar (166 First Ave.; 212-228-0444). Everything from drum 'n' bass to
Jaco Pastorius tributes and hot Latin grooves.
Kavehaz (123 Mercer St.; 212-343-0612). Another storefront, it features
mainstreamers like vibist Joe Locke.
Lenox Lounge (288 Lenox Ave.; 212-427-0253). Uptown hot spot showcases
undersung veterans like saxist Charles Davis stepping out.
Zinc Bar (90 W. Houston; 212-477-8337). Ace guitarist Ron Affif is one of
this spot's regulars, amidst the heavy Latin rotation.
Santoro writes about jazz for The News.
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