Jazz-chester Festival Soon [This is part of the June 11, 2008 edition of Genesee Sun.] By Jillian Stevenson With the seventh annual Rochester International Jazz Festival on the horizon, music fans from around the greater Rochester region are gearing up to descend on downtown to devour a feast for the ears. But if you love jazz, if you crave live music even into the wee hours and even on a Monday, you don’t have to wait for this yearly event to drag yourself from the suburbs and into the city. I’ve known about the Flat Iron Café for some time. I heard it was a sweet spot for local musicians to jam, and for musicians traveling through town to happen upon. I stopped in on a Sunday evening to grab the best café mocha I’ve had in years, and asked the owner, Tommy LaBue, if he was getting ready for the Jazz Fest. I had heard that last year, there were several evenings of after hours, with famous musicians letting it fly into the thick summer air. LaBue said they’d have after hours every night this year during the festival, but admitted he’d like to see more of a crowd throughout the year. “Rochester says it’s such a jazz town, but last night Wycliffe Gordon was here playing his trombone into the ear of one drunk guy.” My eyes must have explained my reaction. LaBue invited me to come check out Big Apple Mondays, to get a feel for the place, the neighborhood, and the possibilities. The triangular building juts into the intersection of Lake Avenue, Lyell Avenue, Smith and State Streets. Customers reveling in the heat and the music sit almost in their own lane of traffic as vehicles zoom by even at midnight. Quinn Lawrence is just finishing up his set, and those who had just been cutting up the floor sprawl about the café, catching their breath. But the night isn’t over. Lawrence plays with his trio on Mondays, and hosts a weekly after hours on Saturday. “It’s the only place you can swing dance to live music on a weekly basis for free,” he says, and LaBue heads in to crank up some Latin beats. There’s a regular crowd from the Tango Café, a dance studio on Gregory Street, that’s made the Flat Iron their home away from home. On Tuesdays, they dance the Bachata and the Merengue, and on Thurdays, it’s Salsa. On three separate occasions, I’m greeted by Carlos Rodriguez, an instructor from Tango, Liz Garcia, an assistant, and Ashley Piper, a student and now a devout friend to them both. Despite my own inabilities on the dance floor, they never make me feel like I should sit down. I learned all three dances that night. I head back on Saturday, to see if the after hours really exists. It’s 1:50 a.m. when I pull up, and the place is going strong. Lawrence is on the saxophone, John Pittman leans against the wall with his trumpet, Kate Gentile caresses her drum set, and Ben Thomas works his bass. I think I’m dreaming. No stranger to going out, I’m shocked that I’m not getting pushed out the door. Amador Vasquez is a childhood friend of LaBue’s. He says they both grew up on Conkey Avenue, and that LaBue’s transformation of this building, this corner, have been an inspiration to him. “Any night of the week, you don’t see blacks, you don’t see whites, you don’t see old, you don’t see young. You see a melting pot. And there’s never been a fight. Never a 911 call,” he adds. “Tommy’s livin’ the dream I had, so I help him, and I’m gonna go there with him.” Vasquez says that this corner is the center of the city. He and LaBue point out the different businesses, “There are Asians there, Jamaicans there, Indians, Puerto Ricans, Vietnamese, Somalians…my crowd includes people from the neighborhood.” As for the neighborhood, the café sits a little beyond the High Falls Entertainment District. Is it safe? Shuolun Ruan, a University of Rochester medical student, says “I feel like I’m amidst the safest group of people I can be with. At the end of every evening, someone offers to walk me to my car. So yeah, I feel fine.” |
By Greg Bell
Sometimes I forget my age, how much "fun" I've already had and how much I'll pay for it later (why do you think I'm doing this on Monday...?), and because sometimes I just feel like I don't want a particular evening to come to an end. Well, it does ... it becomes morning. I met up with Ken and Seth at the Strath to discuss strategy for blogging and podcasting during the upcoming jazz festival Saturday night and listen to John Eckert with the Bob Sneider Quartet, which that night was missing Bob for part of the evening as he was playing guitar with the RPO and Byron Stripling, Wycliffe Gordon, Peter Appleyard, and Chris Vadala over at the Eastman Theatre for the 85 Years of Jazz program, RPO's last concert of the season, which Dianna and I had the pleasure of seeing Friday night.
After the RPO gig was over, Bob and the whole bunch showed up at the Strathallan (which didn't surprise me as I expected they were staying there). Wycliffe took out his horn and blew some beautiful ballads with the band. My friend Jimmie Highsmith Jr. was there as well. A second set, a scotch and a beer later, as people were all packing up. I found out Wycliffe and Jimmie were heading over to the Flat Iron Café to play with Quinn Lawrence and his trio (Kate Gentile on drums and Ben Thomas on bass), at their regular after-hours gig on Sunday morning at the Flat Iron. I decided that it had been awhile since I saw Tom LaBue, Flat Iron's owner and I had a cigar burning a hole in my pocket, so I went over. Good choice . . . .
After awhile, Wycliffe and Jimmie showed up and unzipped their gig bags. They sat at tables facing the trio, or got up and joined them and faced us. They were just jamming. They weren't playing for a crowd—there was just me, Tom, a couple that Tom knows who enjoy hanging there, and a guy who spent most of the time sleeping on the table (that's him in the one picture . . . he's not ducking to avoid Wycliffe's slide). There's nothing like listening to great musicians jam early in the morning, just sitting around and playing for the sheer joy of it. The music flowed for several hours.
This type of thing happens with some regularity at the Flat Iron. I'm afraid jazz doesn't happen like this anywhere else (if I'm wrong, let me know), except for an earlier version of "after hours" during the festival (the Flat Iron has the real after hours all week during the RIJF). But there is one thing missing...you. Tom is fighting the odds to keep jazz music flowing at the Flat Iron. He's a true urban pioneer and has created a great oasis of music, dance, and libation at the corners of Corner of Lake, Lyell, Smith, and State Streets. Take a chance and check out something out there or any of our struggling jazz haunts. You don't have to do the 3:00 am thing, but you'll miss a unique experience of some great music if you don't.
Trumpet came first. Lawrence was 10 years old and couldn't decide which instrument to choose.
You're just gonna have to stay up late to hear it. No sweat: the Flat Iron serves a good cup of joe.
After-hours jam at the Flat Iron Café, 561 State St
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I've been saying for a long time that there needs to be something during the Rochester International Jazz Festival to sate the jazz needs of folks who are just not ready to stop (and many of whom have taken days off or are on vacation here in Rochester) that would highlight some of the great talent we have here. According to the website for the Flat Iron Cafe at 561 State Street (585.454.4830) and Aaron Staebell, who plays drums with the Bill Tiberio Group and his own band Bending and Breaking, there will be live jazz at the Cafe starting at 2 am, conveniently when it wraps up at the Crowne Plaza Hotel with Bob Sneider each night just down the street. Aaron's group will be playing on June 11th and 13th starting at 2 am (and at 8:30 pm on the 12th at Boulder Coffee). I don't know who else is playing, but will update this post as I find out more.
Now, what about some alternative venues. While I understand the reasons that the main event is down at the Crowne Plaza, I expect the crowds at this year's after hours sets will hit the tipping point. I'm still going to check them out, but it's nice knowing that alternatives are at least beginning to be in the mix.- Gregory V. Bell jazz@rocheseter
This morning at 2:00 a.m., I left the following the end of the last set of the after hours gig at State Street Bar & Grill at the Crowne Plaza Hotel and headed over to Flatiron Cafe down the street to see what would transpire at the jam sessions that are starting up there each night at 2:00 a.m. Although I always enjoy hearing the after hours house band of Bob Sneider, Mike Melito and Phil Flanigan, there wasn't much happening last night other than some really talented students of Bob, plus two members of 5 Corners Quintet from Finland. I wanted to say hello again to Tom, the owner at Flatiron and check out the scene so I headed on over (don't know where the energy came from, but Tom's large cup of coffee was a great help). Aaron Stabell's Bending and Breaking band was playing and I really enjoyed the set. While some members of Christian Scott's band and sax player Timo Lassy of the 5 Corners Quintet were present, by the time I left only Scott's drummer had sat in and Lassy had left without playing. However, talking with the owner I found out the night to be there was the previous night when it all had come together beyond his wildest (well he has some even bigger ones for tonight's session) dreams.
In the early hours of Wednesday, those who were at the Flatiron Cafe were in for a real treat as Wycliffe Gordon, Robin Eubanks and Gray Mayfield, as well as members of Bonerama showed up and jammed with the musicians Quinn Lawrence put together for the event (how many trombones does that make?). New blogger for the Democrat & Chronicle Anna Reguero was there and apparently it was an amazing night (as listening to Wycliffe blow often is...). As Anna put it:
Big shots like these guys don’t come to jam sessions at 3 a.m. in small cities to show off. For example, Gordon plays in the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra — trust me, he doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone. They come because they love to play — anywhere and with anyone.
That is what makes these after-hours gigs special. When they click, they REALLY click and leave you with a music experience that is indelibly inked into your memory. The after after hours gig at the Flatiron will be going on until the end of the festival. Who knows who will show up each night?
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What's better than When The Saints Come Marching In to top off the afterhours jam at Flat Iron Cafe at 5 in the morning? It could only be when the Lincoln Center Orchestra is jamming it with Quinn Lawrence Trio. Big thanks to Victor Goines, Carlos Henriquez, Ali Jackson, Marcus Printup and Ryan Kisor! These cats were out of control! -Tommy LaBue