Siren Song
It's been too long since I've been to New York City to soak up the amazing jazz scene. It calls to me. When I found out Kurt Elling would be playing the role of Hermes in Hadestown on Broadway, I knew that was just the excuse I needed to plan a trip to the Big Apple. With my retirement at the end of December 2025 and Kurt on Broadway through January 2026, early January was the obvious time to go.
Day One - Monday
My travel buddy and fellow jazz aficionado, Steve, suggested we stay at the Lotte Palace. (That's pronounced LOH-TEH. It's a Korean company.) Steve is a travel guru, having traveled around the world, so when he recommends a place, I listen. Not a bad view from our room.
Room with a View
That's St. Patrick's Cathedral across the street.
The Lotte Palace is beautiful. It was originally the Villard Mansion, built by railroad magnate, Henry Villard. The mansion was built in the Neo-Renaissance style in 1884. Sadly, Villard went bankrupt around the time he finally moved in and only lived there a few months. This is the ceiling of the Gold Room where we had cocktails. They also serve breakfast here.
The ceiling of the Gold Room in the hotel
The library of the original Villard Mansion
One of my former colleagues recommended a jazz club in Tribeca that I hadn't heard of, The Django. So after checking into the hotel we hopped the subway down to The Django for a late set featuring the Jihee Heo trio. Great show. I wasn't familiar with any of the performers, but the music was great, mostly standards including a beautiful rendition of "Lush Life".
Jihee Heo Trio at The Django
- Jihee Heo (piano)
- Eric Willer (bass)
- Chris Beck (drums)
Day Two - Tuesday
In addition to being a world-traveler, Steve is also a foodie, so we had to check out some haute cuisine. Of course we wouldn't want that to interfere with jazz shows, so we had lunch at Le Bernardin.
Outside Le Bernardin dressed like a New Yorker
After lunch we walked around midtown and decided to check out St. Patricks Cathedral which was still decorated for Christmas and awash in red poinsettias.
Altar at St. Patrick's Cathedral
The Waldorf-Astoria re-opened a few months ago after being closed 8 years for renovations. If 8 years seems like a long time, don't forget to factor in the Covid time warp. The lobby is beautiful and it has a beautiful 1908 Steinway piano that belonged to Cole Porter, who lived in the hotel back in the 1940's.
Cole Porter's piano in the lobby of the Waldorf-Astoria
We found out that they actually have someone playing the piano for the cocktail hour, so we decided to come back for cocktails later in the week.
In the evening we headed out to hear vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater, who was doing a 5-night run at Birdland with pianist Bill Charlap. Dee Dee can be wild and crazy and Bill definitely shares her taste for musical adventure. They played standards and I mean played. It felt like they were just playing around for the pure joy of it. It was a great show! They did:
- On A Clear Day
- Sometimes I’m Happy
- Just One of Those Things
- Lush Life
- I’m Beginning to See the Light
- S’Wonderful
- In A Sentimental Mood
- Honeysuckle Rose
- Mood Indigo
- Caravan
Day Three - Wednesday
Before our Hadestown matinee at 2pm, we had time to check out another nice restaurant. Can you guess the name of the restaurant from this picture?
Yes, that's right Le Veau D'Or (Golden Calf). It was another excellent meal.
Then we we're off to the Walter Kerr Theatre.
In the evening Steve and I went our separate ways. Steve wanted to see "Porgy and Bess" at the Metropolitan opera and I wanted to hear some more--you guessed it--jazz!
I had learned the previous night that Birdland has a theatre in the basement below the club, which is called--drum roll--the Birdland Theatre. And Wednesday is guitar night at the Birdland Theatre, which is hosted by Frank Vignola. And his guests that night were the young phenom, Pasquale Grasso, and Mike Stern who has been on the scene longer than I've been working. And I just retired after 40 years. It was a great show. They weren't too loud, which guitarists can often be, but they did play a lot of up-tempo songs, which guitarists also seem to do quite often. They did a lot of trading off on comping and soloing and even all 3 soloing at once at one point. It was wild and fabulous. They did:
- There is No Greater Love
- Equinox
- I Love You
- Wing and a Prayer (Mike Stern original)
- Softly
- Sunnymoon for Two
Guitar Night at Birdland Theatre
- Mike Stern
- Pasquale Grasso
- Frank Vignola
- Alex Raderman (drums)
- Gary Mazzaroppi (bass)
Day 4 - Thursday
When I booked the trip, I didn't realize there was a two-day festival at Jazz at Lincoln Center on Thursday and Friday. 6:30pm to 12:30am both nights! We decided to go on Thursday. Steve took a nap on Thursday afternoon and I was teasing him about that, but he was gearing up for a long night. I went out in search of a tea house. A few blocks from the hotel I found Tearoom by Calmplex. It's in a basement: you have to walk through a pottery class and a clothing store to get to it. But it's lovely when you get there. You order your Chinese tea and they bring you a gongfu tea set so you can have your own little tea ceremony. I love the ritual of tea. It's very calming, especially at the Calmplex. And they have a tiny model of a tea set by the register. The cups are smaller than a fingernail.
Miniature tea set at Tearoom by Calmplex
We got to Jazz at Lincoln Center around 6pm. There were 10 different shows on for the first night of the Unity Festival, but we couldn't see even half of them. Here's the ones we did see.
Jazz Legacies Fellowship Honors All-Star Concert 2026
The Mellon Foundation created a fellowship to support elder jazz veterans. Twenty musicians received a fellowship grant. You can read about all the recipients at the Jazz Legacies Fellowship.
Seventeen of the recipients were able to participate in this concert. One of the recipients, George Cables, was unable to attend because he had another gig! The concert went by pretty quickly with each participant playing only one or two songs. One of the recipients is Seattle's own Julian Priester, who played with many of the greats over the last 7 decades. Julian is still playing his trombone and Steve got to play with him at a jam session just the week before. It was great to see him on the Rose Theatre stage.
Veronica Swift
At Dizzy's Club we saw Veronica Swift, a super-talented young vocalist. She said she was working on a new album about home and belonging and was singing some of the songs from that upcoming project. I didn't recognize of the tunes. I think the first tune was "As Soon As I Get Home" from "The Wiz", which is a ballad, but after a chorus she took it up-tempo and started a blistering scat reminiscent of Ella. She also did a really uptempo version of "Chega de Saudade" and an intoxicating rendition of "Don't Rain on My Parade".
Veronica Swift at Dizzy's Club
It was a beautiful set! She closed with "Sing" by the Dresden Dolls, which she closed with when I heard her in Seattle at Jazz Alley two years ago. She was at the Triple Door in Seattle last year and that set had a heavy rock and roll influence. On the Dizzy's stage in New York she has integrated jazz, rock and Broadway into a swinging and soulful good time.
I called it a night after Veronica's set, but Steve's nap paid off and he was able to stay for one more show.
Theme for Akiko: Organ Jam Celebrating Akiko Tsuruga
Sadly, I can't tell you anything about this organ concert, since I was back at the hotel. Steve said I missed Pat Bianchi. Darn!
Day 5 - Friday
Friday we walked along 5th Avenue. And we happened to walk by the Jaeger LeCoultre store. If you aren't a collector of high-end watches, then you probably haven't heard of Jaeger LeCoultre. This was all new to me. Imagine you are walking into their store. Instead of buying that new Toyota Camry you could buy a high-end watch. The watch buying process is quite enjoyable. You are shown to a private room and served excellent espresso and madeleines. And of course, you know the sales rep, as you have purchased a watch from her in the past. Unfortunately, you have to start the conversation by confessing that you have cheated on her and recently bought a watch from one of her colleagues at the LA store. Sorry. But all is quickly forgiven as a tray of 3 watches is brought into the room. You will notice the craftsmanship is impressive, but you narrowly escaped without buying any watches!
We decided to visit the Frick Museum, formerly the Frick mansion built in 1914 in the Beaux-Arts style for Henry Frick. Frick was a dedicated art collector and stipulated in his will that his home and art collection be turned into a museum. The home itself is beautiful and the art collection is impressive--works by Rembrandt, Monet, Manet, Degas, Renoir and 3 Vermeer paintings!
Moody Tongue is a sushi place. And they have a chef's tasting menu with beer pairings. Yes, beer, not wine. We both decide to try the tasting menu with the accompanying beers. The sushi was amazing. But I'm not a big beer fan. But I did try every beer and they did pair well with the sushi. I did have some beer left over at the end of the meal.
All the beers at Moody Tongue
The beers:
- Yuzu Lager
- Pressed Asian Pear Saison
- Sudachi Lager
- Orange Blossom Belgian Blonde
- Cherry Oud Bruin
- Cassis
- Cerise
- Bourbon Barrel Aged 12 Layer Cake Imperial Stout
Although I don't like beer in general, I do like a good stout and this bourbon barrel aged stout was delicious. It's the only one of the beers that I finished.
In addition to soaking up the only 365-day a year jazz festival (as Steve calls New York City) and seeing Hadestown, I had a third reason for this trip. To reconnect with some new friends that I met last year during my 5 Days in Cuba.
Geri lives in NYC and Lisa took the train down from Boston and Joe and Monte drove in from New Jersey. Geri joined us for the first show, then Lisa joined in for the second show, and we all had drinks with Joe and Monte after the show.
Steve and I got a seat up front. Do I look like I'm already excited? Mezzrow broadcasts their concerts on the internet and I have tuned in many times. It was great to be back there in person!
Steve & JD at Mezzrow
Here's the view from my seat.
The Mezzrow stage - close enough to touch!
Vanessa Rubin was moving--soulful and beautiful. It was my first time hearing her live. I'm already looking forward to the next time. She sang:
- Are You Ready for Me?
- The Creator Has a Master Plan
- Once Was Not Enough (original she said she wrote for one of her ex-husbands)
- You’ve Changed (with Johnny O’Neal sitting in on piano)
- Now, Baby, or Never
- Save Your Love for Me
- I Ain’t Got Nothing But the Blues
Her band:
- Brandon McCune / Piano
- Richie Goods / Bass
- Alvin Atkinson / Drums
We stayed at Mezzrow to hear the next set with Peter Martin. We moved across to the other side of the room and sat next to the drums. I didn't get any photos of Peter. I guess I was too mesmerized by the music. It was a great set of standards with interesting arrangements. They did "Summertime" with a funk bass groove. It was great. Songs:
- Blue Monk
- Summertime (kind of a funk double-feel)
- Flamenco Sketches
- I Can’t Help It (someone requested a Stevie Wonder tune, he picked this one)
- One Finger Snap (with Adam Maness sitting in on piano)
- Green Dolphin Street
Band:
- Tamir Shmerling / Bass
- Mark Whitfield Jr / Drums
Day 6 - Saturday
The first week of January turns out to be a great time to visit New York City. The Christmas decorations are still up, but there are no big crowds--just the usual crowds when you have 1.6 million people living on an island that is fewer than 23 square miles.
Our hotel was near Rockefeller Center and I have a distant memory of skating at Rockefeller center as a child with my grandfather back in the 60's. My grandfather worked in the city and occasionally took me and my sister into the city. So I decided to go ice skating.
JD on Ice
After skating I went back to the Tearoom by Calmplex. It was quite busy on a Saturday afternoon, but I was able to get a table after a short wait--maybe 15 minutes.
Saturday night was the big night. We had reservations at Smoke to hear Joshua Redmond. He doesn't usually play venues this small. I last saw him in a big auditorium in Montreal at the festival there. We were all together, me, Steve and my Cuba buddies. Smoke doesn't let you take pictures during the show, so I don't have any.
Joshua did mostly originals. And he had some friends in the audience. Ekep Nkwelle sat in and sang Skylark. She's a great young singer who I had heard before--also at the Montreal jazz festival. And Emmet Cohen sat in and played Scrapple from the Apple. His band:
- Paul Cornish / Piano
- Phillip Norris / Bass
- Nazir Ebo / Drums
It was an awesome show! The crowd loved it. The crowd kept cheering until Joshua played an encore. And it was definitely an unplanned encore. A roadie has already taken Joshua's saxophones off the stage. He had to bring them back to the stage. It was a great night. And special for the Cuba gang to have Emmet Cohen sit in, since we all met in Cuba because of Emmet. And we got a picture with Emmet after the show.
Cuba trip reunion with Emmet
Au revoir, New York! See you again soon--I hope!
