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George Coleman at the 25th anniversary of Smoke Jazz Club
Smoke Jazz Club
25th Anniversary Concert
New York, NY
April 12, 2024
Jazz thrives in places that rarely endure for very long. Sure, there are the longtime jazz templesthe Village Vanguard in New York, Ronnie Scott's in London, Preservation Hall in New Orleansbut most premier clubs are lucky to last into adulthood, at least as jazz-only venues. The rent's too damn high, the music too commercially marginal.
Smoke Jazz & Supper Club, on Manhattan's Upper West Side, is a happy exception to that rule. Founded in 1999in a space that was once home to Augie's, a beloved jazz divethe place has survived, even thrived, where many Manhattan peers have fallen (the Jazz Standard, 55 Bar, Cleopatra's Needle) or all but abandoned straight ahead jazz bookings (Iridium).
The club enters its second quarter century as committed as ever to pure jazz. Smoke strutted that devotion during a 25th anniversary weekend that featured
George Coleman
saxophone, tenorb.1935
Peter Bernstein
guitarb.1967
Doug Weiss
bass, acousticJohn Webber
bass, acousticCarl Allen
drumsb.1961
Coleman himself is a miracle of endurance. Having turned 89 in March, the tenorist looked frail as he walked to the stand, leaning heavily on a Smoke employee. But he was musically authoritative and distinctive once he was seated and the mouthpiece hit his lips.
Coleman's playing was less powerful in than in his 60s heyday, unsurprisingly, but he has never been a player of gale-force power. At Smoke, as at his appearance last month at Bob Weir and Others at the Jazz Foundation of America Gala Concert at the Apollo Theater, Coleman leaned into his trademark short and stylish phrases in solos that exuded elegance and thoughtfulness more than volume and musical muscle. Coleman was no fading flower when it came to leading the band; imperiousness is more the idea. He issued intermittent instructions, sometimes barked and sometimes gesturedas when he insistently pointed to Bernstein to comp along with a Weiss solo.
When pleased, Coleman indicated his approval through warm smiles, nods and raised fists. In less happy moments, he didn't hold back---at one point even calling
Jeb Patton
pianob.1974
It was a little awkward, if also guiltily entertaining. Kudos to his Smoke sidemen in keeping cool through it all, and providing unshowy support that allowed their masterful leader to shine. The drama demonstrated Coleman's continued commitment to getting the music right, a trait that helped the self-taught musician ascend to the 1963 quintet of
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
Herbie Hancock
pianob.1940
The set ended with a blues, a fitting choice for a Memphis native whose formative years in the early '50s were spent in the band of
B.B. King
guitar, electric1925 - 2015
Refurbished to red plushness in its post-pandemic reboot, Smoke's walls are adorned with photos of other veteran players, including
Harold Mabern
piano1936 - 2019
Indeed, at the weekend shows, he was selling Big George (Smoke Sessions Records, 2024), the latest of his label's 75-plus titlesfeaturing Coleman with the band
One for All
band / ensemble / orchestrab.1997
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Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.About George Coleman
Instrument: Saxophone, tenor
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