The Johnny O'Neal Trio live streaming from Smalls, NYC - Jan. 29

Johnny O'Neal (piano, vocals); Mark Lewandowski (double bass); Charles Goold (drums)

Smalls Jazz Club live streaming gigs isn't news, this smallest of Greenwich Village venues has been doing just that since September 2007. Over the last thirteen years every performance has been documented. In association with partner venue Mezzrow's (which opened its doors in 2014), no fewer than 17,000 streamed gigs have been deposited in the archives. 

We're at 183 W 10th St., Johnny O'Neal is holding court. Gigging at Smalls is one of the ex-Jazz Messengers' regular engagements. This evening our pianist is working with buddies Mark Lewandowski, bass, and drummer Charles Goold. O'Neal seated at a Yamaha, bass and drums occupying the remaining floor space, a portrait of Louis Armstrong part of the backdrop. Straight in with a swinging take on Witchcraft. Excellent.       

Two thirds of the trio have played gigs on Tyneside, albeit some thirty five years apart. In the early eighties a then young O'Neal arrived in town with Art Blakey to perform at the Newcastle Jazz Festival. Three or four years ago Mark Lewandowski (a lad from Nottingham, by way of the London jazz scene, now making a name for himself in the Big Apple) turned up at Newcastle Jazz Co-op's HQ working with Liam Noble as part of a nationwide tour playing the music of Fats Waller. Charles Goold has yet to make it to the BSH heartland, seemingly the native New Yorker is plenty busy at the moment! 

Oscar Pettiford's Tricotism, the trio swinging, thoughts turned to when we will be able to make the trip across the pond to hear these guys up close, for real. A surprise...O'Neal wanted to sing a number (Blakey wouldn't have countenanced the idea!). A Hundred Years from Today. Great tune, but let's be honest, O'Neal ain't no Sinatra! That said, let's give the guy a break, the vocal mic wasn't the best, that's for sure. Yes, we need to hear the man in a club setting. One day, one day...

More vocals! With Every Breath I Take, as much spoken word as sung, the kinda vocal a non-singer can do well, blues inflection, and all that. I've Got the World on a String, clearly O'Neal was enjoying himself. And to close a marvellous hour - it was marvellous, vocals included! - it was back to what Johnny O'Neal does best, playing piano. And what a way to go out...Oscar Peterson's finger-busting Mississauga Rattler. 

Hello, is that British Airways? Can you do me a cheap flight to JFK? I've just got to get to Smalls to hear Johnny O'Neal!  

Russell