Bill’s Seafood Allstars Fridays 7pm to 9pm
at Bill’s Seafood Restaurant, 548 Boston Post Rd, Westbrook, CT 06498
(860) 399-7224 www.billsseafood.com
January 22, 2016
Bill Sinclair piano, leader
Tom Boates trombone, vocals
Noel Kaletsky reeds
Lou Bocciarelli bass
Tom Palinko drums
Every Friday evening Bill’s Seafood presents their Allstars, a band made up of very talented local musicians. They play mostly Dixieland along with some swing and other types of jazz with occasional surprises from various other genres thrown in. There is always a full house at Bill’s with many regular fans.
Tom Boates
Every performance is exciting and tonight’s was no exception. It started with a rousing rendition of Canal Street Blues, followed by Little Girl, then Tom Boates vocal on St. James Infirmary Blues. Tom also sang Dr. Jazz later in the program. He’s the frontman for the band and plays a mean trombone.
Noel Kaletsky, Tom Palinko
The Allstars have several Wilbur de Paris numbers in their repertoire and usually play at least one. Tonight it was the fast and furious Tres Moutarde.
Noel was featured on I Got Rhythm and, on the soprano sax, in a beautiful rendition of When Day is Done. He also played back and forth with Tom Palinko’s drums on the final number of the evening, one of the group’s standards which always gets wild applause from the audience, Duke Ellington’s Caravan.
Noel Kaletsky, Lou Bocciarelli, Tom Palinko
The audience also participated – clapping, waving napkins, etc – on a rousing version of Bourbon Street Parade. All the musicians get plenty of solo spots during most of the numbers, Bill’s piano and Lou’s bass are always great and everybody loves Tom’s drum solos.
Noel’s sax, Lou Bocciarelli, Tom Palinko, Tom Boates trombone, and leader Bill Sinclair behind piano.
As always, we all enjoyed the evening. The band is wonderful and the food is excellent.
The Allstars will be making a special appearance on Tuesday, Feb 9th for a Mardi GrasCelebration. It will start early, from 6:30 to 9:30, with the band playing from 7pm – 9pm. Bill’s is NOT taking reservations for the Mardi Gras party. Just come as if it were a Friday. There will be a variety of food items associated with New Orleans cooking which will be incorporated into Bill’s regular menu.
Heartbeat Jazz Band at Smarty’s Restaurant and Pub, 215 Main St. Niantic CT (860) 739-8818
Heartbeat’s Christmas Show at Smarty’s, Thursday December 19, 2014
Here are a few pictures and the playlist for Heartbeat’s Christmas show at Smarty’s. www.smartysniantic.com. It was a mixture of seasonal favorites and traditional jazz standards along with a few other surprises.
Bill Logozzo – drums, leader Fred Vigorito – cornet
Skip Hughes – trombone, vocals Noel Kaletsky – reeds
Bob Card – saxophone Art Hovey – tuba, bass
Steve Keillor – banjo, guitar Shari Lucas-keyboard
Andrew Walker – guest vocalist
Playlist:
Maryland My Maryland (Oh Tannenbaum) ~~~Break~~~
Lulu’s Back in Town Mack the Knife
Oh Baby! Apex Blues
China Boy You are always on my mind
I’ll be Home for Christmas How come you do me like you do?
Let it Snow (with Walk Right In & Alice’s Restaurant)
Shine Sunny Side of the Street
Blue Christmas Medley – Jingle Bells, Saints, Silent Night
South Rampart Street Parade
They started with ‘Oh Christmas Tree’ and one of Fred’s audience quizzes – I believe we ended up with at least 5 titles for this number!
Skip sang several songs, including ‘Lulu’s Back in Town’, ‘Blue Christmas’, ‘Mack the Knife’ and ‘How Come you do me like you do’.
Guest vocalist Andrew Walker sang ‘You are Always on my Mind’.
Andrew Walker listens to band after his vocal on “You Are Always on My Mind”
Noel and Steve played ‘China Boy’ and Bob Card did ‘Sunny Side of the Street’.
Steve Keillor and Noel Kaletsky
Steve and Noel
Heartbeat always puts on a great show and this holiday performance was no exception. By the final number – a medley of the usual ‘Saints’ with ‘Jingle Bells’ and ‘Silent Night’, everyone was singing along and definitely in the Christmas spirit.
Hear Heartbeat every 2nd Thursday at Oliver’s in Essex, CT and every 4th Thursday at Smarty’s.
Bottom up – Bob Barta, Bill Reynolds, Jeff Barnhart, Daniel Barda, Alain Marquet, Noel Kaletsky, Ian Frankel, Emily Asher, Freddy Vigorito, Tom Palinko, Gordon Au, Lou Bocciarelli, Joel Schiavone, Albie Bernard
By Sue Finn Pictures by Sue Finn and Marce
Daniel Barda and Alain Marquet
It was wonderful to have Daniel and Alain there all the way from France to perform for us. How they did it through the jet lag is beyond me. I was particularly impressed with Daniel’s ‘Ory’s Creole Trombone’. I was sitting close enough to hear him say that he had no warning that he was going to be asked to play that – amazing! And hearing Alain & Noel together was magical – especially ‘China Town’.
I thought the addition of the Friday night concert was a cool way to give us all a chance to hear D & A in depth. Nice touch having Bill play washboard on ‘Washboard Wiggle’ – wonder if it made them feel at home!
Paris Washboard, with Bill Reynolds on washboard
Saturday afternoon started the weekend ‘proper’ with the full contingent of super-talented musicians, in various permutations for all of the two days. There were many different styles.
Emily Asher and Daniel Barda
Some highlights: ‘Mood Indigo’ with two trombones,
Fred Vigorito and Gordon Au
‘Cakewalking Babies’ with trumpet and cornet,
‘Bogalusa Strut’ and, of course, ‘Joel’s Banjo Frenzy’ sing along with Noel being a good sport and playing a banjo again – although he always says he won’t!
Joel’s banjo sing-along
Noel Kaletsky on banjo
The finale for this set was ‘South Rampart Street Parade’ with 11 of the 14 musicians joining in.
Finale Saturday 4pm
The ‘history lesson’ on Saturday evening was very informative and something new (I think – I wasn’t at the 3rd House Party so Jeff may have done it there). In my opinion this set included some of the best music of the weekend, including the aforementioned ‘Ory’s Creole Trombone’. I was surprised at the bebop number – definitely learned something there. I always thought bebop was like swing and the dance similar to jitterbug. Needless to say this trad jazz fan didn’t like it but it didn’t sound as if Jeff expected anybody to! My favorites from this set were: ‘At a Georgia Camp Meeting’, ‘At the Jazz Band Ball’, ‘Stevedore Stomp’ & ‘Big Bear Stomp’.
Saturday night Finale
Sunday brought more wonderful music – where do they get their energy?? – and included some novelty numbers – ‘Down in Jungle Town’, ‘A Chicken Ain’t Nothing But a Bird’ and the (unplanned) ‘Rooster Song’ solo by Jeff. Also another sing along. In this set I especially liked ‘Limehouse Blues’,
Gordon sings
‘Happy Feet’ with Gordon singing, Jeff & Ian’s piano duet and the grand finale of the weekend with ALL the musicians playing ‘High Society’.
Volunteers served delicious meals
Can’t end this without a mention of the volunteers – they are amazing, working quietly, mostly behind the scenes and making sure it all runs smoothly and everyone has a truly memorable weekend.
Now we all have to be very patient and wait until October, 2014 for the next one! We are SO lucky to be able to hear such talented musicians play amazing music just for us…………
>From Marce: List of 16 hours of Tunes!
Eric’s videos are in the works, there will be more on this later. If you were a witness to this marvelous weekend, please share your comments with us. Send to marce@nejazz.com.
I’ll See You In My Dreams
Comments: Eric Devine:
“It’s hard to put into words the feeling I have when I’m at Jeff and Joel’s House party. I find myself literally surrounded by incredibly talented musicians and enthusiastic fans who all like what I like. It feels like a big Trad Jazz family reunion in some ways. This house party (number 4) may have been the best yet. It’s hard to say this because each party has been exciting, fun and unique, but the addition of a Friday night show with Alain Marquet, Daniel Barda, Jeff Barnhart and Bill Reynolds was really spectacular. On Saturday night Jeff narrated a 50-year history of jazz that was interesting and funny. There were so many great moments from this party, from the comedic interchange among musicians to the really hot tunes to the conversations with musicians and other fans. I am grateful that Jeff, Joel and all of the house party volunteers find a way to make this party happen and I look forward to the next one.”
Marilyn Snow:
“What a great weekend–jazz heaven. Loved the music (such great talent) and the surroundings, food, and company, all just wonderful. What a marvelous concept.”
Fred Vigorito, cornetist: Thank you Joel Schiavone and Jeff Barnhart for a fabulous, fun filled weekend of hot Jazz! Thank you Glen and Carol Ott for the delicious food! Over 200 Jazz fans enjoyed the sounds of 14 talented musicians giving it their all. Thank you, volunteers. It couldn’t happen without you! This was so much fun! Playing with Daniel and Alain of Paris Washboard! Sharing the trumpet slot with Gordon Au. Working with trombonist Emily Asher, drummers Bill Reynolds and Tom Palinko, bass man Lou Bocciarelli, clarinetist Noel Kaletsky, banjoists Bob Barta and Joel, tuba man Albie Barnard, pianists Jeff Barnhart and Ian Frenkel. You should have seen and heard Jeff and Ian’s duet, with one piano! Sad to see it all come to an end, but the good news is that it will happen again next year, Oct 11 and 12, 2014. This will sell out for sure, so buy your tickets soon! Go to: www.jeffandjoelshouseparty.com“
