Sunday, August 28, 2011

Danny Hull Newsletter: Musically This Week Vol XIII, No 50


Hullo friends.  How blessed are we?  While a Category 3 hurricane threatens the East coast, we bask in the sun and warmth of the Niagara Frontier.  I even got a sunburn on my balding pate while cruising Center Street at the 10th Annual Lewiston Jazz Festival.  How do they ever pull that off?  Ronnie Corsaro, Carol Calato (Regal Tip sticks & brushes), Sandy Hays, County Legislator Richard Soluri, and all of the board members who so unselfishly pour their collective energies into making this music and friendship festival a reality are owed a serious debt of thanks.  While our "leaders" in Washington sabotage the very stability that our fiscal policy balances on with their irresponsible debt-ceiling gamesmanship, the Niagara County policy makers come together in the interest of the common good.  To paraphrase the late Tip O'Neill, all politics is indeed local.  And lucky are we that this local is where we reside...
Tonight - Sunday, 8/28 at the Niagara Arts & Cultural Center     6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Ron Corsaro & the Upstate Express
As the jazz festival concluded last night, the Sunday performances at the NACC conclude today, fittingly with the man who organized and booked all of the performing artists for Lewiston.  After appearing every Thursday this (and every) summer at the gazebo in Lewiston, Ronnie's Upstate Express plays its final concert of the season on the steps of the former Niagara Falls High School.  One last time for 2011, we're going out swinging.
Tuesday, 8/30 at the Iris Restaurant     7:30 - 10:30
Mike Kelly, guitar     Danny Vitale, bass     your host, drum set
I'm especially grateful to the above mentioned presenters of the Lewiston Jazz Fest for reasons both musical and personal.  Their skill at organizing the whole event allowed me to bring my friend Mike Kelly home.  His performance last night, along with that of Pete Malinverni and the incomparable Danny Vitale, was truly inspiring.  Mike was a world-class guitarist when he moved from Rochester to New York in the 80's, and from New York to Atlanta in the 90's.  For those of you who heard it last night from the Frontier House porch, you know this to be true:  He's simply brilliant.  And he hasn't lost a step.  After all these years I am still knocked out by his musical vocabulary, his feel, his swing, his knowledge of tunes, his artistic temperament, and his fundamental musicality.  To this day, he sounds like he was born with a guitar in his lap.  And thanks to our continuing embarrassment of riches, we get to reprise the moments musical again this Tuesday.  Pete will have headed back to New York, but Mike's lifelong friend Danny Vitale will return, and this time you can hear all of the nuance that is sometimes lost in an outdoor performance.  Please join us as we extend the Jazz Festival one more evening, in the intimate environs of the Iris Restaurant.  We're still at Maple & Sweet Home Roads in the Maple-Ridge Plaza.  Good music, good food, good people, chilled spirits, and a great hang...
next Tuesday, 9/6 at the Iris Restaurant     7:30 - 10:30
George Caldwell, piano     Miles Tucker, saxophone     Sabu Adeyola, bass     your host, drum set
upcoming at the Iris Restaurant...
Tuesday, 9/13 Tim Clarke & George Kane
Tuesday, 9/20 Bruce Johnstone & the Carousel Strings
Tuesday, 9/27 Matt Michaud
Tuesday, 10/4 Phil DiRe
Tuesday, 10/11 Jeff Hackworth
Tuesday, 10/18 Mike Kaupa
Tuesday, 11/1 Karl Stabnau
Tuesday, 11/15 Clay Jenkins
links...

Have a good one...
A day is Eternity's seed, and we are its Gardeners.
 - Erika Harris

Health,
Hope,
Dialogue,
Respect,
Tolerance,
and Peace.
dan

Monday, August 22, 2011

Danny Hull Newsletter: Musically This Week Vol XIII, No 49


Hullo friends.  If the summer has to end, there's no better way to usher it out than with the Historic Lewiston Jazz Festival...
Tuesday, 8/23 at the Iris Restaurant     7:30 - 10:30
Friday, 8/26 on the Main Stage, Lewiston Jazz Festival     5:30 - 7:30
Pete Malinverni, piano     Jody Sandhaus, vocals     Dick Griffo & Dave Schiavone, saxophones     Tim Clarke, trumpet     John Hasselback, trombone     Cameron Kayne, bass     dh, drum set
In fact, it's the Lewiston Jazz Fest that brings Pete & Jody to town this week.  After a year hiatus, our reunion resumes.  These next two Tuesdays hold special meaning for your correspondent, mostly because of the friendships involved.  And as is so often the case, the music is central to it all.  This Tuesday Pete & Jody make their first appearance at our new venue.  So as you heard Pete at the Art Gallery with Eliot Zigmund and Lee Hudson on the Steinway (that Pete personally chose for the Albright-Knox), this week you'll hear him on our 6 foot Yamaha.  Back at our curiously lit location, Mike Milkie would often ask me if we could turn that funky little bar into a jazz club.  And I would always give him the same answer:  "No, Mike.  Not without a real piano".  Thanks to Pat & Phil Georger at Hamburg Music Center, we are now for real.  Our performance at the Jazz Fest is going to feature Pete's septet arrangements for Jody, which we'll preview at the club on Tuesday night.  So please join us as we offer Pete, Jody, & the Upstate Express horn section in the intimate environs of the newly named Iris Restaurant.  Indoors, you'll hear all of the artistry and nuance of an acoustic performance.  And Friday evening we'll do it again on the Main Stage at the Jazz Fest, taking in the outdoor energy, directing it into the music, and out to you.  We hope to see you at both venues.
Saturday, 8/27 on the Rising Star Stage, Lewiston Jazz Festival     12:30 - 2:30 p.m.
The Mike Kaupa Quartet
Mike Kaupa, trumpet     Lisa Hasselback, piano     Buddy Fadale, bass     your correspondent, drum set
Serendipity.  Ronnie Corsaro is not only a substantial pianist, arranger, and bandleader in his own right, he is also the contractor for the Lewiston Jazz Festival.  (How he manages that considerable task is a mystery to me.  Impressive, to say the least...)  Ronnie came into the club one Tuesday past & heard the quartet that Mike Kaupa had assembled for a featured performance.  The musical magic that Mike, Lisa & Buddy created was all Ronnie needed to hear.  The Festival beckoned and Mike was booked.  And this Saturday afternoon, the magic is recreated.  The Rising Star Stage is opposite the Main Stage at the other end of Center Street.
Saturday, 8/27 at the Frontier House, Lewiston Jazz Festival     7:45 - 9:45
Mike Kelly, guitar     Pete Malinverni, piano     Danny Vitale, bass     your host, drum set
My man comes home...  Again, the music brings us together and refreshens the friendships.  Mike Kelly is not only a guitar legend in his hometown of Rochester, and he is not only the first-call guitarist in all of Atlanta, he is my friend of 28 years.  And thanks to Ronnie Corsaro and all of the good people who organize and support the Lewiston Jazz Festival, we are bringing Mike home for a short but very special stay.  Try to be there by downbeat.  A mere 15 minutes after we start, we have the unenviable task of competing with Kurt Elling's appearance on the Main Stage.  The scheduling didn't work out for us on this one, but if you dig straight ahead and swinging, you may decide to divide your loyalties.
Sunday, 8/29 at the Niagara Arts & Cultural Center     6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Ron Corsaro & Friends
The Niagara Arts & Cultural Center is the former Niagara Falls High School.  Weather permitting, we're outside on the steps.  If rain threatens, we'll be in the auditorium.  After witnessing Ronnie's organizational chops at the Jazz Fest, come and hear both his arranging and pianistic chops at the NACC.
next Tuesday, 8/30 at the Iris Restaurant     7:30 - 10:30
Mike Kelly, guitar     Danny Vitale, bass     your host, drum set
upcoming at the Iris Restaurant...
Tuesday, 9/6 George Caldwell
Tuesday, 9/13 Tim Clarke & George Kane
Tuesday, 9/20 Bruce Johnstone
Tuesday, 9/27 Matt Michaud
Tuesday, 10/4 Phil DiRe
links...

First we make our habits, then our habits make us...
That which we think about, we do.  That which we do, we become.
 - Bernie Schallehn

Health,
Hope,
Dialogue,
Respect,
Tolerance,
and Peace.
dan

Monday, August 15, 2011

Danny Hull Newsletter: Musically This Week Vol XIII, No 48


Hullo friends.  Laurie...
Tuesday, 8/16 at the Iris Restaurant
Laurie Bordonaro, vocals     Casey Filiaci, piano     Sabu Adeyola, bass     your host, drum set
Are you fortunate enough to know someone who is so fundamentally good within, that her capacity for confidence and joy is fully realized?  Laurie.  Do you know anyone who is so grateful for her family, her friends, and her health that her gratitude is sung in every lyric?  Laurie.  Who do you know, artist or otherwise, who emotes with such sincerity that the tears in her eyes become the tears in yours?  Laurie.  OK, so I love my friend.  But I'm not alone.  And if you know her, you do too.  You've heard her at the club before.  You've witnessed her energy and her esprit at the summer Art Gallery concerts.  Maybe you've taken the drive to Mayberry for the Russell Park concerts.  Her genuine, outgoing embrace for the music in her life and the people she loves knows no barrier between stage and audience.  She is a rare gift.  And we're sharing that gift this Tuesday.  Please join us, and know no bounds yourself.  We are now the Iris Restaurant, Maple & Sweet Home Roads in the Maple-Ridge Plaza.  Good music, good food, good people, chilled spirits, and this week?  A joyful hang.
next Tuesday, 8/23 at the Iris Restaurant
Pete Malinverni, piano     Jody Sandhaus, vocals     Cameron Kayne, bass     your host, drum set
upcoming at the Iris Restaurant...
Tuesday, 8/30 Mike Kelly
Tuesday, 9/13 Tim Clarke & George Kane
Tuesday, 9/20 Bruce Johnstone
Tuesday, 9/27 Matt Michaud
Tuesday, 10/4 Phil DiRe
links...

Comfort in your own skin...
Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.
 - Mahatma Gandhi

Health,
Hope,
Dialogue,
Respect,
Tolerance,
and Peace.
dan

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Danny Hull Newsletter: Musically This Week Vol XIII, No 47

Hullo friends.  The Don returns...

Tuesday, 8/9 at the Iris Restaurant     7:30 - 10:30
Don Menza, tenor saxophone     Bob Sneider, guitar     Cameron Kayne, bass     your host, drum set
As it should be.  It just didn't feel right last summer without the legend making his annual visit home.  But the planets have realigned, and the great one is back in the comfortable environs of his native territory.  In a town notable for saxophonists, the standard bearer has come home.  As has been tradition since 2002, Don has agreed to grace our Tuesday bandstand and at once artistically challenge his fellow musicians.  We are honored to present him to his hometown audience, this time at our new digs.  Bob Sneider and the young and ubiquitous Cameron Kayne are his chosen sidemen for our date.  Better company I could not musically ask for.  To complete the evening, we invite our savvy and informed listeners to do their part.  Join us as we welcome home a bona fide Buffalo legend, and live in the moment from one quarter note to the next...  Now the Iris Restaurant, at Maple & Sweet Home Roads in the Maple-Ridge Plaza.  Good music, good food, good people, chilled spirits, and this week?  No question.  A great hang.
next Tuesday, 8/16 at the Iris Restaurant
Laurie Bordonaro, vocals     Casey Filiaci, piano     Sabu Adeyola, bass     your host, drum set
upcoming at the Iris Restaurant...
Tuesday, 8/23 Pete Malinverni & Jody Sandhaus
Tuesday, 8/30 Mike Kelly
Tuesday, 9/13 Tim Clarke & George Kane
Tuesday, 9/20 Bruce Johnstone
Tuesday, 9/27 Matt Michaud
Tuesday, 10/4 Phil DiRe
links...

Welcome home Don...
Home is an invention on which no one has yet improved.
 - Ann Douglas

Health,
Hope,
Dialogue,
Respect,
Tolerance,
and Peace.
dan

Monday, August 1, 2011

Danny Hull Newsletter: Musically This Week Vol XIII, No 47

Hullo friends.  If you missed Barbara Jean last Sunday on Shakespeare Hill, here's another chance...

8/2 at the Iris Restaurant     7:30 - 10:30
Barbara Jean, vocals     Michael T. Jones, piano     Cameron Kayne, bass     your host, drum set
And if you didn't miss her, you'll want to hear the indoor version too.  Barbara Jean brings her clever tunes and easy delivery to the Iris Restaurant, this week under the musical direction of Michael T. Jones.  And how lucky can one singer get?  Last week, Bobby Jones.  This week Mike Jones.  (We'd love to complete the trilogy and get George Jones to compliment our stage too.  Maybe if the entire Bobby McGee's/Iris Restaurant community could descend upon Oliver's Restaurant some Saturday night and simply refuse to leave until George agrees to a Tuesday appearance...)  And speaking of brilliant piano players, Doug Bates is another guy we'd commit a crime to feature.  But I digress.  This Tuesday we're featuring both a vocalist and a pianist, concurrently.  Please join us in air conditioned comfort as we keep the music in the air.  We are now the Iris Restaurant, still at Maple & Sweet Home Roads in the Maple-Ridge Plaza.  Good music, good food, good people, chilled spirits, beer variety, and a great hang.
next Tuesday, 8/9 at the Iris Restaurant     7:30 - 10:30
Don Menza, tenor saxophone     Bob Sneider, guitar     Cameron Kayne, bass     your host, drum set
upcoming at the Iris Restaurant...
Tuesday, 8/16 Laurie Bordonaro
Tuesday, 8/23 Pete Malinverni & Jody Sandhaus
Tuesday, 8/30 Mike Kelly
Tuesday, 9/13 Tim Clarke & George Kane
Tuesday, 9/20 Bruce Johnstone
Tuesday, 9/27 Matt Michaud
Tuesday, 10/4 Phil DiRe
links...

With the help of an inspired singer...
In summer, the song sings itself.
 - William Carlos Williams

Health,
Hope,
Dialogue,
Respect,
Tolerance,
and Peace.
dan