REVIEW: David Greenberger and the Huckleberries Perform “Universal Preservation” Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025 at Universal Preservation Hall

Spoken word artist and archivist of the old (among many creative activities) David Greenberger and his Huckleberries preserved and celebrated universal human truths Sunday at Universal Preservation Hall in a compelling talk-with-music presentation of the same name.

David Greenberger, center, and the Huckleberries, from left: Chris Carey, Sam Zucchini, Greenberger, James Gascoyne, and Peter Davis. Photos mine

Proctors impresario Philip Morris commissioned the project, recorded in 2019 before Covid stopped everything, including a planned performance celebrating the reopening of the Universal Preservation Hall, a Saratoga church repurposed as venue. Revived half a decade later and re-sharpened in recent rehearsals for the stage, “Universal Preservation” combined elements that each could have stood alone. The words Greenberger collected in conversations with area oldsters – a work of preservation and appreciation he began in 1979 as “The Duplex Planet” – fit well with new music by a capable quartet. 

Combined on Sunday, it felt unified and organic. Sometimes Greenberger words fell right on the beat from the quartet behind him, and short solos fit his pauses at the mic. But it all mainly worked as a matching of moods, and those evolved in the 75-minute performance.

First came pure fun; a mellow soft-jazz groove as Greenberger recited words of Frank Nelson recalling his father’s alacrity at handicapping horses. “Dad and the Horses” opened both the two-CD recording and Sunday’s show; the light-hearted piece took on a poignant weight as Greenberger noted afterwards that Nelson had died since their conversation in a Saratoga care home. So had several others since Greenberger collected their words and he recorded them with the Huckleberries before Covid.

Many of the mostly short words-and-music constructions carried this message, that we all age, if we’re lucky, that good times are to be cherished and that fate serves them up to us unpredictably.

An immigrant story followed “Dad and the Horses,” at a slower tempo for a more serious feel. Then a gentle bossa beat underlined a recitation of a long career in caring from a retired nurse who lamented how workaholism limited his cultural opportunities. Then, back to fun in “A Great Story About a Bike,” an ironic tale Greenberber warned would be louder and was, a lively sax-flavored rocker with a stop-and-go cadence and a cozy coda that stopped in mid air.

Here we have to give the whole band some. 

As noted, they could have played the whole show without words and still richly entertained the rapt audience. Drummer Sam Zucchini played the pulse, closely grafting his beats to bass (electric) from musical director Chris Carey, who also played keyboard and mandolin, or James Gascoyne (acoustic), who also played guitar and gourd banjo. Stage left stood Peter Davis who played keyboard, banjo, alto sax, low-whistle and alto dobro. 

Sam Zucchini

As versatile as they were skilled, they echoed Frank Zappa’s jagged bass-heavy rock-jazz in “A Great Story About a Bike,” Paul McCartney-like piano punch in “The Future Is Great,” a blues stroll in “Lobster Bagpipes,” reflectively quiet banjo under “Fishing Poles,” while “Albany Girl” cruised on a bluegrass acoustic feel. Two rollicking keyboards ganged up on “Zucchini, Heat, Pipes and Bass” and maybe most direct influence by a single example, “Outdoor Person” packed the dignified simplicity of The Band.

Chris Carey, playing a Fender bass as well-loved and -used as Pete Donnelly’s (The Figgs)

If jazz was the dominant flavor, with rock and folk as spices, it also felt sophisticated as an episodic concerto or oratorio; Deep Truths over Discreet Charm, maybe. 

David Greenberger, left, and James Gascoyne

Peter Davis

Between songs, Greenberger shared information, straight and off-kilter. Naming the sources of his monologs in conversations with Saratoga oldsters, some now deceased, he also lightened up with fanciful facets of a restless creative mind. He said he’d named the band behind him partly after a line in “Moon River” but mostly after Huckleberry Hound, noting he’d joined the cartoon character’s fan club as a kid. He rummaged among band names he’s obsessively devised for decades, collecting in notebooks such gems as “Being Yelled At” and “Little Pieces of Paper.” And he applied alphabetical numerology to band members names in intros as clever as those of Darlingside, another conspicuously clever crew that’s played Universal Preservation Hall.

The show had arc, development; mixing the humorous with the profound early on, though the line between them blurred often. Aging itself increasingly became the theme, mostly in satisfied musings over well-lived lives but also mourning loss at times: the lamented ends of long marriages, cherished homes or fulfilling work.

Ultimately, though, Greenberger managed to sequence and build his monologs to serene and sweet effect, with well-matched music framing, underlining and spicing his words.

David Greenberger’s blue suede shoes – an affectionate echo of Nippertown founder Greg Haymes’ love for publishing performers’ footwear

Earlier comments here on Saratoga Jazz Festival artists announcement felt incomplete without giving the full schedule. So here’s the full line-up for the 22 acts on two stages over two late June days/evenings.

First let’s parse how the list below – copied and pasted from the news release – translates into a schedule and, later, becomes a plan.

In short, the listings for the two stages are in reverse chronological order. 

Saturday, saxophonist Kenny Garrett plays first on the Amphitheater (Main) stage where pianist Michel Camilo and his Trio follow; then blues guitar flamethrower Gary Clark Jr. closes Saturday’s music.

Meanwhile, the String Queens open on the Charles R. Wood “Discovery” Stage (formerly the Gazebo, and which I call the Wood, for brevity), followed by C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band. All woman modern jazz crew Artemis closes there.

In one of the improvements that have made the festival increasingly fan-friendly over its nearly 50 years, the sets on the two stages are now staggered some. So fleet-of-foot fans can catch more music on the two stages and have less difficulty choosing which stage to hit when. 

Moreover, only in the past few years have start times been announced beforehand; that will happen in the coming weeks. For years, those crucial planning essentials were closely held until just before show time.

Music wraps up on the Wood while the sun is still up, a convenient dinner break, while it continues on the Main.

Facility improvements also make the festival more welcoming including a tent over (much of) the audience area at the Wood; refurbished, relocated and expanded restrooms and food service areas – the latter a great place to meet strangers, always worthwhile.

Fans who prefer the lawn can still bring in their own seats, blankets and tents, unlike the shows Live Nation Entertainment presents, but must remove them after Saturday’s music. This facilitates cleaning of the grounds and ensures everyone gets a fair shot at prime or favorite positions on Sunday.

And, since I noted Laufey in my previous comments and included a photo of her rapt fans, here’s an onstage photo of the young Icelandic pop singer who swelled the crowds last year by expanding the festival’s young audience.

Laufey sings at the 2014 Saratoga Jazz Festival, the last sponsored by Freihofer’s. Water glass and teddy bear are at her feet.

SATURDAY, JUNE 28

Amphitheater: 

Gary Clark Jr.

Gregory Porter

Lettuce

Veronica Swift

Michel Camilo Trio

Kenny Garrett

Charles R. Wood “Discovery” Stage: 

Artemis

Nicole Zuraitis

Keyon Harrold

Julius Rodriguez

C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band

The String Queens

SUNDAY, JUNE 29

Amphitheater:

Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue

Cory Wong

Cassandra Wilson

Al Di Meola Acoustic Band

DJ Logic & Friends featuring Vernon Reid, Cyro Baptista, Emilio Modeste, James Hurt, Felix Pastorius & Terreon Gully 

Charles R. Wood “Discovery” Stage:

Gary Bartz

Bria Skonberg Quintet

Brandee Younger Trio

La Excelencia 

Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars Celebrate their Heroes

featuring Clay Jenkins, Jimmy Greene, Steve Davis, Dave Stryker, Bill Cunliffe, Todd Coolman & Dennis Mackrel

A word about these guys and the special flavor of their shows. 

In recent years, local acts have joined the national and international attractions playing the Festival, notably the late, great pianist Lee Shaw, the Hot Club of Saratoga, and Garland Nelson’s gospel-soul ensemble. This year, the Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars represent as the only home-grown artists on the schedule. All are skilled individual players, and their ensemble plays wonderfully well together. 

Each summer, they select a jazz giant or two as the focus of virtuoso tributes, including both original arrangements and fresh reworking of vintage classics by these players themselves. Bassist leader Todd Coolman delivers the wittiest, most entertaining introductions we’re likely to hear, all festival. When the uniformly T-shirted Institute students take their customary places at the front of the Wood audience. You can feel their excitement, their happy energy, as their teachers offer glittering examples, inspirations, onstage.

As noted previously, tickets go on sale to SPAC members Feb. 21 and to everyone Feb. 24 at space.org.

Saratoga Jazz Festival Brings Strong Mix of Familiar and New Faces

Thursday’s announcement of 22 artists performing at the Saratoga Jazz Festival lists well-known stars on both Amphitheater (Main) and Discovery stages and introduces new artists; 10 in festival debuts. None will likely wield the young-audience box office clout of Laufey, who drew hordes who seemed new to the festival last year, but fresh faces and sounds abound.

Laufey fans at Saratoga Jazz Festival 2024

Sponsorship has shifted from Freihofer’s to GE Vernova, yet the formidable strengths of this festival, nearing half a century on the same stage(s), remain undiminished.

Welcoming GE Vernova, Saratoga Performing Arts Center President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol said, “we continue to find new ways to evolve and expand our vibrant weekend event” in the festival announcement news release. In the same announcement, longtime festival producer and President of Absolutely Live Entertainment Danny Melnick echoed this sentiment, hailing the “magical kaleidoscope of artists who are going to elevate this festival to new heights.”

Let’s start at the top: the closing sets each night that have traditionally honored the biggest names on the marquee. Both blues-rock guitarist Gary Clark Jr. (Saturday) and Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue (Sunday) have earned these top spots, though purists may argue that neither is jazz. 

Texan fret-board force of nature Clark is among festival newcomers, a powerful guitarist anointed by Grammys, prime spots in reigning guitar god Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival and a melt-the-screen-intense Austin City Limits appearance. 

Guitarists also star on Sunday, all on the main stage and all boasting sparkly track records. Cory Wong was a smash in 2023 with thrilling electric funk while Al DiMeola (Return to Forever, all-star guitar ensembles and his own bands) delivered a dynamic acoustic solo set last time around and returns with a full acoustic band; and Vernon Reid (Living Color) plays in DJ Logic’s all-star crew to open the main-stage action. But we digress.

Trombone Shorty closes the festival Sunday on the main stage with his explosive Orleans Avenue ensemble that lit up The Egg in Albany, a 2023 highlight. He now also owns the festival-closing spot in the eight-day 12-stage Jazz and Heritage Festival in his hometown.

Louisiana is also in the house Saturday when accordionist C.J. Chenier (heir to zydeco eminence dad Clifton Chenier) leads his aptly named Red Hot Louisiana Band.

Singers grab the Main stage mic both days: Gregory Porter of burly baritone and trademark hat and newcomer Veronica Swift on Saturday, longtime star Cassandra Wilson on Sunday with her deliciously deep voice, fearless song choices and magnetic presence.

Bria Skonberg at A Place for Jazz this fall

Let’s also note Bria Skonberg (Sunday on the Discovery Stage) among the singers, though she also plays versatile trumpet. And, hats off to area venues and programs who present these arena-level stars on our area stages: both Skonberg and the all-woman Artemis (Discovery Stage on Saturday) at A Place for Jazz this fall, C.J. Chenier coming up at Feb. 7 at Universal Preservation Hall in Proctors Passport series booked by Music Haven, and Veronica Swift at SPAC’s nearby Spa Little Theater May 1.

Artemis at A Place for Jazz; leader Renee Rosnes at the piano

Like country audiences, jazz fans hold dear for decades the venerable stars who first brought them into the fold. Saxophonists hold the longest tenure among 2025’s artists. Gary Bartz, 84, began recording in 1967 and plays Sunday on the Discovery Stage. His resume includes stints with Miles Davis, McCoy Tyner and dozens of others, as leader and sideman. Kenny Garrett, 64, plays Saturday on the Main Stage. Like Bartz, Garrett, 64, played with both Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Miles Davis and made dozens of albums as a leader and sideman including the Grammy-winning “Five Peace Band” with Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, Christian McBride and Brian Blade or Vinnie Colauta.

While longtime fans might gravitate to familiar names, lesser-known artists will likely surprise and delight, as usual. In that sense, both stages are venues for discoveries, the large, indoor Amphitheater or Main Stage and the Charles R. Wood “Discovery” Stage. Formerly the open-air Gazebo stage, it’s now comfortably roofed from sun and rain.

Favorites, Revisited

Like most fans, I expect to join fans flocking to artists I’ve enjoyed here and elsewhere including Cassandra Wilson’s deep and magical way with a song, the fiery funk fun of Cory Wong, C.J. Chenier’s zydeco zip, the versatile Artemis, Gregory Porter’s warm-as-sunshine baritone, Trombone Shorty’s joyous New Orleans gumbo, the elegance of Bria Skonberg as both singer and player, the wit and respect for jazz pioneers of the Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars.

New Faves?

But I’m looking forward maybe even more to being surprised by artists I’ve never seen live including the venerable saxophonists Gary Bartz and (half a generation younger) Kenny Garrett, the intriguing hip-hop hybrid of DJ Logic and Friends, the group improv fireworks of Lettuce, and completely new-to-me Gary Clark Jr., Keyon Harrold, Nicole Zuraitis, the Brandee Younger Trio, La Excelencia, the String Queens, Julius Rodriguez and others. I’ll go there with sunblock AND rain gear, and happily open ears.

The festival offers food, drinks and crafts and allows tents in rear areas and blankets and chairs elsewhere – unlike at shows that promoter LiveNation presents at SPAC. Tickets go on sale Jan. 21 to members and Jan. 24 to everyone.

REVIEW: Old Friends Beckoned New Sounds Reckoned at Caffe Lena; Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025

With their new album as song-by-song roadmap, saxophonist and flute player Matt Steckler’s new quartet took the jazz fans who jam-filled Caffe Lena Saturday on a dynamic and dazzling ride from volcanic to wistful and back again.

From left: Tony Lewis, drums; Matt Steckler, saxophones and flute; Yayoi Ikawa, piano; Tarik Shah, bass

The title the album and band share – Old Friends Beckoned New Sounds Reckoned – explains both the old-friends connections among the players and the vitality of the new music they make, mostly Steckler compositions. But apart from exploring the music’s moods, melodies and meaning, they mainly seemed intent on making one another smile; audience, too.

Steckler played flute only in the opening “Forgive,” a happy, expansive number his staccato phrasing carried initially; then pianist Yayoi Ikawa took over to thrilling effect, kicking off her shoes and digging deep amid drum thunder from Tony Lewis and agile throb from bassist Tarik Shah, subbing for regular Lonnie Plaxico.

After the welcoming “Forgive,” Steckler shifted to tenor in “Labor Day,” running fast Coltrane-y scales and Ikawa and Shah echoing his busy bustle. In the waltz “Prince Eleventy” that followed, his alto gave only a short intro before handing off to Ikawa, but his second bite of the apple went further outside as Lewis swung hard in waltzy grace and march-time force before settling into a slow funk groove. Maybe from his R&B days, this fit nicely; then Ikawa and Shah locked a propulsive repeating riff into the coda.

Yayoi Ikawa, left; and Tarik Shah

Tarik Shah

Lewis’s old-school hard-bop beats might have overwhelmed lesser players, but the quartet balanced well apart from hard cymbal bell* hits that rang extra loud at times.

In Joe Deuel’s recent photos-and-stories presentation, the longtime sound engineer/photographer noted how Caffe founder Lena Spencer barred drums from her stage. Lewis’s mighty beats would either have won her over or sent her spirit flying far and fast. 

Tony Lewis

When Steckler jokingly praised Lewis’s explosion in “Prince Eleventy,” reminding him they were playing a mostly folk venue, the cracked-up drummer nearly lost his just-quaffed mouthful of water, laughing. Then Steckler handed the mic to Ikawa to introduce her gorgeous “Butterfly.” She said the song linked a butterfly’s development, from caterpillar to winged wonder, to human self-definition and diversity. Its lyrical delicacy contrasted nicely with the uproar it followed, subdued at first, then more dramatic. Her solo told that tale to compelling effect that Steckler’s tenor echoed well.

Yayoi Ikawa introduces “Butterfly.”

His soprano sax fluttered through rapid sales in the playful upbeat waltz “I’d Know It If I Heard It,” Ikawa co-starring brilliantly with Lewis and Shah in close support before Shah downshifted into a funk walking pattern. They closed the first set with Sam Rivers’s “Beatrice,” their only cover all night and a liberating tenor workout. In the introduction, Ikawa studied her chart and bobbed her body to the beat before everybody dove into thrill-ride joy, with a sly quote of “Without A Song.”

“Show Some Class” punched in the second set with bluesy swagger, Steckler’s alto riding a jagged cadence and Ikawa exploding in all directions over bustling snare rolls. As in the “Prince Eleventy” to “Butterly” first set shift from fire to simmering coals, “Here and Now” downshifted; Ikawa powerful even in its expressive ballad mood. Things revved back up in “Mission Creep” with its jittery cadence and equally slippery melody. Here Steckler almost missed his cue to jump his soprano sax back in for the recap, hypnotized like everyone else by Ikawa’s McCoy Tyner-like zip.

They lounged into the cheesy schmaltz of “Vegas Mode” before rollicking round-robin short riffs punched the energy. Ikawa glanced over her shoulder at Steckler in full alto bop flight before taking her own dazzling turn. Shah revved the momentum double-time in the climactic “Nunavut,” Ikawa rising off her bench to chase its complex beats and suave melody around the place.

A happy virtuoso band of friends, they celebrated the album’s tunes in smiling mutual support, boldly soloing in shared, independent but linked imagination and, more than anything else, sharing the feel.

The full-to-bursting crowd welcomed this first show of the Caffe’s Peak Jazz Series, presented though support of Joseph and Luann Conlon to encourage jazz at the Caffe. Also a homecoming of sorts for Steckler, a Schenectady native now living and teaching in Manchester, Vt., it welcomed family, former teachers and, of course, old friends.

* When I asked musician brother Jim Hoke to identify that central zone of a cymbal, he told me it’s the “bell” and explained, “Drummers go to that part of the cymbal for an insistent, steady clang clang clang when they need that kind of energy and clarity. Jo El Sonnier, famous for his unique vocabulary replete with malapropisms galore, when he wanted to hear that would tell his drummer to ‘tang the hump.’ So in his honor, you may want to say the drummer tanged the hump.”

Pianist Chuck Lamb Duo welcomes guest vibraphonist Joe Locke Tuesday in the monthly JAZZ  at Caffe series. Show time: 8;30 p.m., doors 6:30. $45.55, members $41.21, students and children $22.78. 518-583-0022. http://www.caffelena.org.

Steckler introduces Ikawa

PREVIEW: David Greenberger and the Huckleberries perform (at last) “Universal Preservation” in (where else?) Universal Preservation Hall, Sunday, Jan. 19

“I want you to make something for us,” Phillip Morris invited David Greenberger in 2018.

“Something” is “Universal Preservation,” a two-CD album of words with music, and a one-time-only performance by Greenberger and the Huckleberries on Sunday, Jan. 19 at Universal Preservation Hall (UPH). 

David Greenberger, left, and the Huckleberries: Sam Zucchini, Chris Carey, James Gascoyne and Peter Davis – shown in the balcony of Universal Preservation Hall. Richard Lovrich photo

CEO of the Proctors Collaborative that operates UPH (also Proctors in Schenectady, Albany’s The Rep and Troy’s soon to reopen American Theater), Morris commissioned the project to honor the rejuvenated UPH, a former church.

In David Greenberger, Morris found a kindred spirit. Drolly accepting, resourceful, clever, relentlessly hard-working, a comprehensive and detailed archivist to whom nothing is too mundane to record, Greenberger has for decades preserved universal human truths gleaned from conversations with oldsters. In print initially, then performances, they mix poignancy, offhand poetic beauty and deadpan wit – hilarious and touching by turns.

He first found those aging friends, and his life’s work, in a nursing home.

Old Material, New Vision

In Boston to study painting and play bass in the rock band Men & Volts, Greenberger became activities director at the Duplex in 1979. When he found the newsletter he published there of interviews with the residents was of less interest to the residents than to his artist and musician friends, he began collecting interview gems in “The Duplex Planet.” A vividly eccentric magazine, it continues to this day and has spawned print media including books, comics and trading cards. 

After Faber & Faber published his illustrated book “Duplex Planet: Everybody’s Asking Who I Was” (1993), Greenberger hypnotized Conan O’Brien and Chuck Woolery on national TV with the droll, deadpan tale of an elderly gent describing favorite foods while graveside at a friend’s burial. 

Shops stock his books in both humor and social science shelves, earning critical plaudits beyond categories. Blurbs on “No More Shaves” (2003) quote Richard Gehr who dubbed Greenberger a “stand-up sociologist” in Rolling Stone while Ann Powers noted in the New York Times that Greenberger’s pieces “possess this unsettling combination of wisdom and disconnectedness, representing the mix of vitality and decline that is the daily experience of their tellers.”

Greenberger creates The Duplex Planet and its offshoots, and makes art and graphic design works, at the Greenwich home he shares with the similarly versatile and creative Barbara Price. An end-of-life doula (counselor) and advocate for elder care, visual artist and blogger, she is also a community catalyst and valued editor, including former managing editor of “The Duplex Planet.”

Old People, Now

Greenberger’s multi-media enterprise stems from his interest in old people, here and now. Rather than paging through scrapbooks of memory, their confining common role, he engages them in the present. For example, he played spiky modern jazz and roaring rock for an elder fan of big-band swing, then published his reactions as a record-review column. Greenberger doesn’t deny the passage of time; he turns it inside out.

As he wrote on his site, “From the start, my mission has been to offer a range of characters who are already old, so that we can get to know them as they are in the present, without celebrating or mourning who they were before…I try to recast them as individuals…typical in their unique humanness.” Greenberger shares their “rich language of personal poetics, accidental utterances, and exuberant expressions that are the result of the brain working faster than the mouth.”

Greenberger became a proxy-mouth, performing monologs of his conversations, adding music for flavor and framing. He honed what became the blueprint for “Universal Preservation” in performances across America including in 2001 at Albany’s Larkin and many Caffe Lena shows with Jupiter Circle, Chandler Travis, and A Strong Dog, also title of a CD. 

Words, Plus Music

Musician collaborators include Birdsongs of the Mezozoic, the Shaking Ray Levis, Paul Cebar, members of Los Lobos (“Growing Old in East L.A.,” a PBS co-production with Price and Jay Allison of Atlantic Public Media), and Keith Spring on “Take Me Where I Don’t Know Where I Am.” He made two albums with NRBQ’s Terry Adams – their “Duplex Planet Radio Hour” was a live performance at NYC’s prestigious avant-arts St. Anne’s Center. Greenberger cast many musicians behind words of late-in-life poet Ernst Noyes Brookings, notably Dave Alvin, the Incredible Casuals, the Figgs and Michael Eck.

The Duplex Planet, Live at The Larkin, Fall 2001. From left: Pete Toigo, bass; David Greenberger, spoken word; Terry Adams, piano. Michael Hochanadel photo.

However, on his new “My Autobiography Vol. 1,” Greenberger parcels out his own story, gleaned from decades of daily diaries, for others to speak: more than a dozen relatives (mother, daughter and granddaughter) and friends including Marshall Crenshaw, Penn Gillette, Geoff Muldaur, Louie Perez (Los Lobos), Mike Watt (Minutemen), Georgia Hubley (Yo La Tengo) and Chandler Travis. Tyson Rogers assembled the music, some from decades-old Greenberger recordings.

A musician himself, Greenberger chooses his players well, at the mic or on instruments, including the versatile, skilled crew he built for “Universal Preservation.” 

First, he collected conversations at Saratoga Springs Senior Center and Home of the Good Shepherd.

Next, he built a band he calls the Huckleberries. “All of them are full time musicians in the area,” Greenberger noted. Multi-instrumentalist Peter Davis, formerly on “Prairie Home Companion” has played hereabouts for 50 years; he plays reeds, piano, mandolin and guitar in “Universal Preservation.” Chris Carey plays guitar, keyboard and bass guitar. James Gascoyne plays guitar, banjo and string bass. Sam Zucchini plays drums live on Jan. 19 but didn’t play on the recording, where Greenberger played some bass.

“I directed the music into as wide a variety of moods and modes as we could so I could respond to those with the texts I developed,” said Greenberger. “I worked on the text concurrent with directing the music into shape over the course of four or five studio sessions with the musicians”  – at Millstone Studio in Ballston Spa. Grafting monologs to music, he adjusted timing and instrumentation a bit in “reverse engineering.” In Men & Volts, music followed lyrics. Now, “What I do with the monologs and music is the reverse of that for the most part.”

Create, Then Create Again

Completing recording and mastering in late 2019, they planned a live show. “We were going to perform at the reopened UPH, for which this was commissioned,” said Greenberger. Then Covid brought empty marquees everywhere. Released in 2022, the pandemic orphaned the album, without the live event that would have celebrated it as the occasion it now becomes.

On record, music and words fit well. In the reflective “Outdoor Person,” the music sounds like The Band, for example. “Soarin’ Dreams” sails on chiming Afro-pop guitar while “Piano Lessons” avoids the obvious, surfing on guitar riffs before the namesake instrument kicks in. “Lobster Bagpipes,” melodic cousin to the jazz standard “Killer Joe,” relies on organ and drums to funky effect.

They echo traditional and modern jazz, rocking romps, folkie antiques and classical reveries, mostly at thoughtful tempos but occasionally busting out in exuberance. Words and music fit and flow, paired either directly or ironically.

Of 44 pieces on the “Universal Preservation” two-CD album, they’ll play 24 live on Jan. 19. Reviving the live project after the Covid hiatus, “Everyone needs to learn what they had only done once,” said Greenberger of ongoing rehearsals. “The pieces will be bit longer live. Ninety seconds (duration of some pieces)…is too short in a live setting.”

Greenberger credited Philip Morris for inspiring and supporting the “Universal Preservation” project. “He’s the visionary, the one who said ‘Let’s have lunch, I want you to make something for us.’”

“David’s work is spectacular” said Morris, “(as is) his notion of capturing the historic essence of the church – built Episcopal, converted to Baptist then reimagined as a performance site.” Now, “A few years later, we look forward to finally sharing this story.”

David Greenberger and the Huckeberries perform “Universal Preservation” on Sunday, Jan. 19 at 3 p.m. Tickets: $25.50 518-3346-6204 www.proctors.org

Terry Adams, left; and David Greenberger, goofing on David’s glasses on an Albany backstreet. I made them do that.

Fired-up words and music at the Larkin. From left, Pete Toigo, David Greenberger, Terry Adams.

PREVIEW: Matt Steckler’s Old Friends Beckoned/New Sounds Reckoned

First came friendships, then gigs, then an album, now another gig: Saturday, January 11 at Caffe Lena.

In saxophonist-composer-bandleader Matt Steckler’s Old Friends Beckoned, New Sounds Reckoned project, musicians first became friends: pianist Yayoi Ikawa and bassist Lonnie Plaxico, initially; later adding drummer Tony Lewis.

Steckler played with Ikawa in a big band at NYU where he earned his Ph.D. in composition; Plaxico played on Steckler’s 2006 Persiflage album, also live in New York and Washington DC. Playing together, Steckler found Ikawa “an athlete on keys – maximum power with maximum efficiency,” as he has explained, and Plaxico’s “way of picking up the essence of the song in one fell swoop, almost by instinct…makes hard things look easy.” Both Ikawa and Plaxico had recorded albums as leaders before the trio started working together in 2022, playing Caffe Lena in Sept. 2023, recording their album this past April at bassist-producer Scott Petito’s Catskill studio (adding Lewis), playing as a quartet in the album’s live premiere at WAMC’s The Linda last October. Newcomer Lewis’s resume sparkles with credits alongside Little Richard, Dizzy Gillespie, B.B. King, Sting, Cyndi Lauper and others.

Old Friends Beckoned, live at WAMC’s The Linda, from left: Yayoi Ikawa, piano; Lonnie Plaxico, bass; Matt Steckler, saxophones and flute; Tony Lewis. Photo provided.

THE ALBUM

The album “Old Friends Beckoned/New Sounds Reckoned” collects nine Steckler originals and one by Ikawa: heads-up compositions all, played with organic unity. Most swing at medium tempos; Steckler most often on tenor or alto, once each on soprano and flute. There’s swagger, harmony, and relaxed, friendly spotlight sharing.

Tunes are tight, skills are sharp, the friendly feel is real.

The album begins with the cheerful “Forgive;” a straight-ahead, sunny number sparkling with blithe solos from flute and piano over in the pocket rhythm section playing; a welcoming opener.

“Labor Day” sounds similarly summer-y, flowing faster, brash and optimistic, with Coltrane-like fast runs and high-flying energy that Ikawa boosts. Plaxico and Lewis chime in, carrying things to a big finish.

A playful, off-center beat announces “Prince Eleventy,” its chunky momentum and bop feel unfurling in episodes serene or hot, alto and drums swapping fours as Lewis erupts at the end.

Lewis also spices Ikawa’s gorgeous “Butterfly” after both Ikawa and Steckler celebrate its serene mood, resolving in unison riffing.

The breezy “I’d Know It If I Heard It” also spreads things around in relaxed, friendly sharing; its uplift feels sincere, sweet.

It sets up the agile unity of “Show Some Class,” alto and piano beautifully matched, Plaxico taking his best break on the album in a propulsive trio run with Steckler’s tenor aboard in an “I’ve got this” recap.

“Here and Now” casts a suavely torchy, yearning but mellow mood, Steckler’s alto vulnerable and breathy, then more assertive after Ikawa’s piano nudges into a nice trio section around eloquent Plaxico bass riffing.

“Mission Creep” has a slippery beat and mutating melody to match; happy and playful, but a handful.

“Vegas Mode” ambles in a lounge-y vibe before the beat changes up into a happier, looser feel with conversational warmth and engaging rhythmic development under Steckler’s tenor.

Ending things on a high, “Nunavit” also frames Steckler’s Coltrane-y tenor scales; he scrambles all over the horn on a solid trio foundation. Ikawa’s solo swings quieter but just as complex; and Lewis makes a joyful noise before a smash coda.

THE SHOW

Asked what’s the most challenging tune from the album to play live, Steckler specified “Mission Creep” with its “windy sort of structure and odd meter and syncopation.” He said, “If you like obstacle courses, though, it’s fun to blow over!”

Playing the album’s tunes onstage is conversational, since the tunes are. “Mostly we talk through transitions and intros/outros,” said Steckler. “If we’re feeling in a certain way, you may hear variations in those spots.” He said, “The energy and ‘playing to the room’ on any given night can influence the level of interaction, solo length or a host of other factors.”

Those include the respect Steckler feels for Caffe Lena where he led Old Friends Beckoned as a trio last September. The Schenectady native (now living and teaching in Middlebury, Vermont) gratefully noted how the Caffe had “opened up their programming to ‘beyond folk’” and welcomed him.

However, the January 11 show features bassist Tarik Shah subbing for the unavailable Plaxico. Steckler has played with Shah since meeting in jam sessions a year ago.“Amazingly (Shah) also knows Yayoi and Lonnie from a different time in NYC…he lent Lonnie his bass at the WAMC show.”

They’ll play songs from the new album plus “standards…as audibles,” said Steckler.

The players meet in Old Friends Beckoned amid busy schedules elsewhere. For his summer birthday celebration-fundraiser, Steckler played with Julian Gerstin Sextet, Heard, and his own Matty’s Marauders songwriting project. Other recent projects include “Elf!” at Dorset Playhouse and gigs with Maxine Linehan, Shannon Roy, Tim Olsen, Planet Kniffen, Wanda Houston, Freddi Shehadi, Matt Cusson and Gruppo Mondo. He plans shows with Pretzil Stex (onstage, he’s Matty Stecks), the band he formed while teaching in Manitoba; plus a reunion of Dead Cat Bounce, the four-saxes combo he formed in Boston while studying at the New England Conservatory. “I’ll be leading jazz engagements at 9 Maple (Saratoga) and Van Dyck/Stella’s (Schenectady) in the coming months,” added Steckler.

Even in such a busy schedule, Old Friends Reckoned stands out. “I’m proudest of how we all got to know one another at different points in our lives, then as collaborators together,” said Steckler. “I think that helped make the record and the shows a near-seamless process.”

Old Friends Beckoned/New Sounds Reckoned plays Caffe Lena (47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs) on Saturday, Jan. 11. Presented through the Caffe’s Peak Jazz Series, sponsored by Joseph & Luann Conlon in memory of Corrine Simonds. 8 p.m. $30.37, members $27.12, students and children $15.18. 518-583-0022 http://www.caffelena.org. It streams live – Caffe Lena TV.

THE BAND (Photos provided, all from WAMC’s The Linda, album release show)

Matt Steckler

Yayoi Ikawa

Lonnie Plaxico

Tony Lewis