
On a crisp May evening, bassist Joe Peterson unveiled his current project, Mainstem, at the latest installment of JSJBF board member Joseph Vincent Riggio’s Jazz Café series held at member venue, The Chubby Pickle. For this evening, he enlisted longtime partner in rhythm, Dan Weeks on drums, Ariana Sowa on alto sax, Mike Kaplan on tenor sax, and Chuck Welch on guitar in what Joe likes to call his ever-evolving musical journey.
The first set opened with “You Stepped Out of a Dream,” a song featured in the 1941 movie “Ziegfeld Girl”. This reworked version featured each of the band members taking solo turns, helping make it their own. Keeping dream in the title, the next number, Thelonious Monk’s self-titled, “Monk’s Dream,” from the album of the same name, included an excellent alto sax solo from Ariana. In speaking with her at the break, I found out she is a recent graduate of the Rutgers University music program, where coincidentally Joe studied, and was a little intimidated playing with a group of seasoned professionals. Not to worry as her playing was warmly received by the jazz enthusiasts in attendance who roundly applauded her for this and many subsequent solos during the evening. “Yardbird Suite” by Charlie Parker, is a bebop standard that featured the band stretching it out to include both Mike’s tenor sax and Ariana’s alto sax soloing with the solid rhythm section of Joe on his upright bass and Dan on the skins. “The Jody Grind,” by Horace Silver, was given the Mainstem treatment, replacing the piano with the superb guitar play of Chuck Welch. The tone of his Gibson Sunburst ES 175 contrasted perfectly with the horns in a winning combination, highlighted by dan’s drum solo towards the end. Dexter Gordon’s “Cheese Cake,” another song well suited for this quintet, closed out the set.


After a brief interlude, the band returned with the great Wes Montgomery’s “Four On Six,” which allowed Chuck to get into some deep guitar grooves with an accompanying bass soloing by Joe, to the delight of those in attendance. They then moved on to something by another sax God, Sonny Rollins, for the tune “Sonnymoon for Two,” which had the horns playing in unison to great effect. They then reached back to another song made famous in the movies, Jerome Kerns “Yesterdays”. It was featured in the 1946 movie “Till the Clouds Roll By,” and was given a fresh arrangement by the band, including some inspired bass playing from Joe. This set ended with Duke Pearson’s “Jeannine,” another song originally featuring the piano, but here was given the horn-based treatment which worked well.
The last set was a short one, composed of three tunes, the first of which was Herbie Hancock’s “Dolphin Dance”. This song’s masterfully understated groove was followed by an original tune by Mike Kaplan, “Hopefully,” a song that fit in well with the evening’s selections, and showcased some of Mike’s signature styling on the tenor sax. For the finale, they dipped into the songbook of John Coltrane for “Impressions,” and this arrangement featured some extended sax solos that would have put a smile on the author’s face.
All in all, it was a great evening of horn-based jazz, with terrific accompaniment of the guitar, bass and drums, which was much appreciated by those in attendance. Joe’s encyclopedic knowledge and arrangement skills has led to the formation of some excellent groups, and as he said to me, he keeps evolving, which is good news for all of us.