Greenwich Village, Lower West. What a contrast to Midtown Manhattan! Bohemian in character with a welcome 'lived in' appearance, the Uptown glitzy, shiny skyscrapers seemed a million miles away. Cafes, bars, eateries at every turn (all of them doing good business), we were here to take in a gig at Smalls (Smalls, no apostrophe!). The West 10th St jazz club and its companion venue on the other side of the street, Mezzrow, were similarly doing good business with orderly queues snaking down the street - sorry, sidewalk!
The Mary Ann McSweeney Quartet @ Smalls
Born in California, bandleader and bassist Mary Ann McSweeney is an established figure on the New York jazz scene. A résumé boasting prestigious teaching engagements and a long list of concert performances with some of the great names, including Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Konitz and Bucky Pizzarelli, McSweeney and her stellar quartet arrived on West 10th to play a set of Mingus numbers.
Baritone sax star Lauren Sevian, heard pre-Covid with the Mingus Big Band at Middlesbrough Town Hall, played a blinder, seemingly taming the big beast with consummate ease. One can safely assume that anyone working on the NYC jazz scene has the chops and alongside Sevian, pianist Elio Villafranco and drummer Tony Jefferson were, as they say, 'the business'. And then there was McSweeney, brimming with enthusiasm, not least for getting to grips with the Mingus pad, this was impressive stuff.
Smalls is, well, small. The basement space was packed to the rafters - by all accounts it's like this night after night. The audience, markedly younger than that of a typical Tyneside crowd, showed its appreciation as the Mary Ann McSweeney Quartet hit the ground running with Fables of Faubus, Sevian right on the money with her baritone part. A cameo appearance from valve trombonist Mike Fahn momentarily enhanced proceedings and as the set approached its end your correspondent couldn't quite believe he was sitting in Smalls, NYC! Russell
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