Small's in New York is, well, small. Quite how the place pays the rent and the musicians is something of a mystery. The live stream isn't new to the Greenwich Village venue, thousands of performances have been streamed and archived. Donations are encouraged and during the pandemic it has been noticeable that some gigs have been sponsored, anonymously, by generous souls. This evening's concert featured the Gilad Hekselman Trio.
The first of Hekselman's two sets (two seperate 'houses') began at 5:00 EST (22:00 GMT). Faces covered, the trio kicked off with a tune reminiscent of Pat Metheny, lots of space, lots of time. Small's fixed-position cameras offer three or four different perspectives with little in the way of close-ups. The musicians' biographies run to several pages, suffice to say they've played with anyone and everyone on the contemporary NYC scene. A second number sounded familiar; angular, fractured, seamlessly in and out of a swing time feel, bluesy. At its conclusion Hekselman picked up the mic to say 'hello'. The number just happened to be Scoville from Trio Grande. Yep.
It Will Get Better in ballad form from 2017's Ask for Chaos could be a song for our times! Looking across at the house MC, Hekselman asked how much time they had. Two more the reply. At times intense, full-on concentration, from time to time heads up grooving, the Gilad Hekselman Trio is one to catch - in NYC or at your local jazz club. If not this year, next. As the man said: It will get better.
Russell
2 comments :
Smalls is awesome and I get a weekly e-mail from the owner Spike Wilner which gives the week's forthcoming events and gives you an insight into the ups and downs of running a jazz club in New York City. Recently my son in Melbourne gave me as a Xmas gift a years subscription to Smalls archives which gives me over 4000 jazz show videos. When we can all travel again that will be one of first places I'll be visiting.
Mike, I'll see you there!
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