East of Harlem
@ Roxy Jazz
10pm
100NT Entry
East of Harlem is great.
That is how they have proven themselves to Roxy enough to earn a consecutive spot on our Friday bill at Roxy Jazz.
Catch them on:
2/5 (Fri)
2/19 (Fri)
2/26 (Fri)
3/12 (Fri)
3/26 (Fri)
starting at 10pm and jamming on well into the night.
Grab a drink and a bite to eat and enjoy the cool atmosphere of Roxy Jazz while taking in the tunes from East of Harlem.
“East of Harlem” (and, at Roxy Jazz, just west of RuiAn Street), consists of five experienced musicians, two from Taiwan, one from South Africa, and two from the US. The set list is made up by individual contributions from the members, creating an ecelctic mix that includes fifties and sixties composers (Trane and Wayne Shorter and more modern works (Mike Stern, some funk-jazz), as well as a ballad or two and the occasional surprise (one free beer to the first person to identify the TV theme show in the set). Swing is the main foundation–with widely varied tempos–set off by Latin, funk, and rock rhythms.
The five person combination creates more dynamic possibilities, with some songs having two horns (tenor and trumpet), and others having either multiple instruments making the melodic statement or providing chordal support. Combined with the driving bass of band leader Rick Taira that anchors the rhythm section, there is sure to be plenty of power in the high energy selections, while the voices of individual instruments correspondingly stand out more sharply in the tunes with more space. This hopefully creates a more textured sound than jazz fans might be used to from mainstream trio or quartet gigs.