On a beautiful late August night, jazz fans we treated to an evening of horn-based music by one of the premier sax players at the Jersey Shore, Joe Grillo. While he is known for his work with Motor City Review, and the NOLA sounds of the Gumbo Gumbas, he wanted to do something outside of those two bands that pays tribute to some of his influences. He enlisted Steve Rice on keyboards, and David Anthony on drums, but unfortunately, David couldn’t make the gig. On this night, he couldn’t have found a better replacement than Tom Cottone, fresh off his appearance with Red 123 at the Long Branch Jazz & Blues Festival.
The night began with Maceo Parker’s “Blues for Shorty Bill,” with Joe covering the solos with a sound that paid tribute to Maceo, without replicating, and the audience loved it. On Stevie Wonder’s, “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers,” the plaintive sound he drew from his sax was eerily familiar to Jeff Beck’s guitarplaying on the most popular version of this song, and I mean that as a compliment of the highest order. Steve also included a nice solo, on his Viscount legend Joey DeFrancesco organ.
Joe introduced his song “Nothing to Do,” explaining it was written during the pandemic, which makes perfect sense, then proceeded to play a nice swing beat, complemented by his pleasing vocals. He again went to the mic to sing the song made famous by The Classics IV, “Spooky,” including some fine soloing. One of my favorite instrumentals from the period, The Viscounts “Harlem Nocturne,” was played over Tom’s Rhumba beat which was a nice touch. Joe then asked if anyone remembered it as the theme song for the 60’s TV show Mike Hammer, which a few people did. A rousing version of Sonny Rollins “St. Thomas,” was a great choice, if one was sampling tunes from great horn players, and it was spiced up with some outstanding drumming from Tom. The first set ended with a reading of a song best remembered by Grover Washington, “Mr. Magic.”
Set two opened with another original that he wrote for the Gumbas, “Donna Dooyawanna,” which got the everyone tapping their toes. The next two tunes were originals and Joe talked about the days when musicians accompanied stripper acts, and both “Blue Stockings,” and “High Heels,” had the titles and the vibe of those long gone shows. Another original, an ode to the history of one of his saxophones, “If This Old Horn Could Talk,” was preceded by the introduction of audience member, Rich Casey, who not only works on his horns, but sold him one that was previously owned by one of his idols, Junior Walker. During the set, they played “Happy Birthday” to painter Irina who was in the audience and who’s painting adorns the space above the mantal where the bands play.
Another great choice was a song covered, most notably by the great Ray Charles, “One Mint Julep,” with the group demonstrating how tight they are in this early stage of their formation. In a nod to a local artist, they performed a terrific version of Asbury Park native Lenny Welch’s “Since I Fell for You,” with joe’s outstanding vocals. I told Joe after the tune, I attended high school with Lenny, although I was a couple years behind him. The final song was a fun romp through, one of Joe’s New Orleans flavored tunes, “You Can’t Stay Here.” With the refrain, “you don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here,” everyone left with smiles on their faces.
To find out more about the band and what Joe is doing, go to www.JoeGrilloMusic.com