NYC jazz notes (2)

Touchdown at JFK! On time, 13:29, to the minute. Let's go, there's a gig to go to! From Terminal 7 take the AirTrain to Sutphin Blvd subway ($4.25, pay on exit). At Sutphin a $35 seven day MetroCard would prove to be the bargain of all time. Subway into Manhattan. Excited? You bet! Half an hour later, emerging from the bowels of a labyrinthine subway system (the largest subway system on the planet) onto the streets of NYC, the temperature hitting 28° and rising...

Skyscrapers this way, skyscrapers that way, skyscrapers every which way. Wow! Down to East 28th, turning onto Madison Avenue, yellow cabs, trucks, SUVs, a heaving tide of human beings as far as the eye could see and there's the hotel. Check in, shower, change and out to the first gig of the trip. Take the subway 'Uptown' to West 44th, let's see how it goes. A stiflingly hot train, passengers minding their own business (much like the London Underground), ear buds in, faces buried in mobile phones (make that 'cell phones') or a dime novel. 

West 44th, let's find Birdland. Counting down the door numbers to no. 315. There it is...'The Jazz Corner of the World'! Down one flight of stairs, ushered in to a darkened Birdland Theater, shown to our table. Drinks ordered, then, on stage: The David Ostwald Louis Armstrong Legacy Band!  

The original venue dates from 1949. Since 1996, 315 West 44th has been its present home. David Ostwald's band is celebrating its twenty-fourth year at Birdland - that's a weekly Wednesday evening residency approaching its quarter century! Watching a Birdland livestream is one thing, being there in person is, as they say, something else! The six-piece band appears to be rehearsed to the nth degree. More likely, the routines are honed from countless performances, not withstanding occasional changes to the line-up. Joe Boga's strong lead kept the band on the straight and narrow, Will Anderson (reeds) and Jim Fryer (once of Whitley Bay International Jazz Festival/Classic Jazz Party fame, trombone) soloed to great effect and the rhythm section couldn't be bettered - Arnt 'Arnie' Arntzen (banjo, guitar, vocals), bandleader Ostwald (tuba) and drummer Alex Raderman. 

Highlights were many, however, to pick out one, Arnt Arntzen is something special. A stupendous banjo player and a superb vocalist (Lonesome Road and When Your Lover Has Gone), it would be great to see and hear Arntzen on this side of the Atlantic. 

It took some believing (it still does) that we were sitting at a table in Birdland, NYC. Wow! What's more, at the end of the evening, in the dimly lit room a familiar voice said: Hi, Patti! It was none other than Daryl Sherman! Russell          

The David Ostwald Legacy Band: Joe Boga (trumpet); Will Anderson (clarinet, alto sax); Jim Fryer (trombone, tuba, vocal); Arnt Arntzen (banjo, guitar, vocals); David Ostwald (tuba); Alex Raderman (drums)