by Tom Baldino
It could hardly have been much colder outside, but the music inside couldn’t have been much hotter! Mike Kaplan, who is the leader, arranger, and tenor sax player, put together an outstanding group of some of the finest players in the area to perform a curated selection of jazz standards, rarities, and compositions by several band members, that held the Chubby Pickle crowd in rapt attention for this evening. Unfortunately, soundman, JSJBF board member, and event promotor, Joseph Vincent Riggio, could not be there due to personal obligations.
To list the accomplishments of the Mike and his eight band members would consume more space than this article allows, but you are welcome to Google them if you would like to see for yourself. Mike has been doing this nine-piece band thing for many years, and I first met him and the “Nonet” as they were called, many years ago when I booked the Keyport Summer Concert Series. On this night, the band consisted of Vinnie Borselli on lead trumpet and flugelhorn, Liam Sutcliffe on trumpet, and flugelhorn, Ben Williams on trombone, Greg Grispart on alto, and soprano saxes, clarinet, and flute, Gerry Cappuccio on baritone sax, Kenny Tam on piano/keyboards, JSJBF board member, Jay Sweet on double bass and Dan Weeks on drums.
The evening began with Buster Smith’s “Eb Boogie,” and boogie they did, with everyone but Dan taking a solo, in a kind of band shakedown, which got the night off to a rousing start. Next up was Mickey Tucker’s “The Crawl,” With Mike’s arrangement not straying too far from the original, but emphasizing the well-timed solos of Ben’s trombone, Liam’s trumpet and Kenny’s extended piano. They switched it up for a lovely version of Jule Stein’s standard, “Just In Time.” It was the only song which was played as an ensemble, and with no solo’s it really accentuated the melody. Mike then told the story of how traveling over on the Cross Bronx Expressway for gigs, led to his song “Cross Bronx Crawl,” which included an interlude where the horns sounded like the cacophony of a traffic jam, driving home the point (pun intended).
The band did a fine version of Charles Mingus “Peggy’s Blue Skylight,” with Ben, Mike and Liam filling out this arrangement with their respective solos. Mike said, tongue in cheek, that the song was originally inspired by Charles girlfriend at the time placing blue tinted paper over her apartment skylight. The song “Somos,” by Mario Clavelli, included a beautiful lead in courtesy of Vinnie’s trumpet, with Mike, Kenny, and Greg on flute, providing the highlights. Vincent Youman’s “Without A Song,” was notable for its big ending that really put a punctuation mark on the night’s activities. The set ended with a wonderful Samba, Joyce Moreno’s “Feminina,” which featured all the horns, with Vinnie and Liam trading trumpet leads, and Kenny’s outstanding keyboards.
The second set began with Duke Ellington’s “Stompy Jones,” featuring Greg on clarinet, supplemented by Vinnie, Mike, and Ben’s exceptional solos. “Big Alice,” a Don Pullen song, began with the audience hand clap, and was enhanced with solos by Gerry and Liam, much to the appreciation of those in attendance. The only song not arranged by Mike was Liam Sutcliffe’s “Burlington Center Mall,” and if this is an example of what young Liam can compose and arrange, he certainly has a bright future ahead.
Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” was one that everyone could hum along to, with Gerry supplying a fabulous baritone sax lead. “Warm n Greasy,” was another of Mike’s compositions, and included his and Liam’s horn solos, with Kenny supplying some fine accompaniment on the keys. Steve Groseman’s “Let’s Monk,” was given a great up-tempo arrangement with Mike, Gerry, and Greg adding some stellar horns and Dan showing his prowess on drums. The closer was another original tune, this time composed by Ben, and arranged by Mike, called “Farewell to Pop Pop.” Done as a ballad, it included some appropriate solos from Mike and Liam.
This was certainly a special night, as it is very rare to see such a large number of distinguished jazz musicians in such an intimate setting. Once again, I can’t stress the fact that we are blessed to have so much top-level talent in our area.