Jazz for aficionados

Hello jazz aficionado's and friends.

Going to Smoke Jazz and Supper Club in NYC tonight to see tenor Eric Alexander and alto Vincent Herring. The rhythm section: piano- Mike Ledonne, bass- John Webber, and drums- Lewis Nash.

The band has a residency at Smoke this week promoting the album release of "Split Decision". I have seen all of these musicians many times with other ensembles as well as the line up featured tonight and on the new album.

They all like to play "straight ahead old school jazz". Music that rok2id would approve of. Is rok still participating on this thread?

Here are some albums/songs I have of these guys and others and others for your consideration:

Quintet I'm seeing tonight:

https://youtu.be/Of_bslZM7zs?si=ZwedCIuWtBUFKPjo

These 2 are from Emmet Cohen's place:

https://youtu.be/NkD_kjId4Mc?si=Ae_7x2XkYsYqV-HF

https://youtu.be/AGAvoqO4eUE?si=1IjOGdtGCpezJiXZ

Album released by Eric Alexander and Mike Ledonne and co. calling the ensemble/sextet "The Heavy Hitters"

https://youtu.be/xtCfwYRhC3A?si=6wxRgyD5HEiNL5Q6

A great song from an older (2001) Eric Alexander album titled "One For All" Live at Smoke. I could not find it on YT so here it is courtesy of Spotify:

Eric Alexander The Second Milestone - playlist by Paul Irishman | Spotify

Lastly, 2 albums by Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring "battling" if you will.

https://youtu.be/KFN0bUwlsDE?si=TaGyX9XDRsufU5EE

https://youtu.be/AmveY183pgU?si=8BHty_IBCiHMCAdX

Have a great weekend everyone!

Brad Mehldau

Fred Hersch

@pjw81563 -How was the show? Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring are two heavy hitters! The rest of the quintet are no slouches, either.

@wharfy Great show. The acoustics at Smoke are very good that is why so many artists record live shows there.

Herring and Alexander have been playing together over 3 decades and play off of each other really well.

Herring mentioned the 2 "battle albums" - the 2005 Eric Alexander release "The Battle", and the 2011 Vincent Herring release "Friendly Fire". Both were recorded live at Smoke.

The rhythm section of Mike Ledonne on piano, John Webber on bass with Lewis Nash on the drums really know how to swing. I had seen Webber and Nash multiple times but never Ledonne.

Mike Ledonne and I had a 15 minute conversation after the set and it was a great experience. Ledonne graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music, where he studied with Jaki Byard in 1978 and has been playing professionally nearly 50 years. 

Mike LeDonne’s Groover Quartet has been the featured Tuesday night band at Smoke for the past 14 years. On any given week you can hear some of the greatest players today like saxophonists Eric Alexander and Vincent Herring, guitarists Peter Bernstein, Paul Bollenback and Ed Cherry, and drummers Joe Farnsworth and Carl Allen.

The late Jimmy Cobb, known for playing drums on Miles Davis’ KOB, really liked when John Webber was available to play bass with him live and in the studio. Webber is deserving of Cobb’s preference. I saw Jimmy Cobb many times and Webber was the bassist on nearly all of these occasions.

Lewis Nash, whom I have also had the privilege of seeing multiple times, is a terrific and highly sought after drummer.