Jazz fans face a tough choice Friday between two cool shows. There’s no wrong one: guitarist Peter Bernstein Quartet at A Place for Jazz, OR drummer Ari Hoenig in Caffe Lena’s Peak Jazz series.
A Jim Hall protege at New York’s New School, Bernstein hit the big-time when Hall invited him into a guitar showcase at the 1990 JVC Jazz Festival with Pat Metheny, John Scofield and others.
Peter Bernstein. Photo provided
That same year, Bernstein joined saxophonist Lou Donaldson’s band, then (drummer Jimmy) Cobb’s Mob. He played with organist Larry Goldings and drummer Billy Stewart in what the New York Times called “best organ trio of the last decade.” He’s released nine albums and a DVD, “Live at Smoke,” as a leader and played with Sonny Rollins, Lee Konitz, Wes Montgomery, Tom Harrell, Joshua Rodman, Diana Krall, Nicholas Payton and Eric Alexander.
Hall hailed Bernstein’s “attention to the past as well as the future,” while Donaldson noted “Some people just have it…Peter just knows it all.” Bernstein’s recent albums include the tribute “Monk” (2009) and “Solo Guitar – Live at Smalls (2013).”
Friday, he plays A Place for Jazz with David Hazeltine, piano; John Webber, bass; and Joe Strasser, drums; in the Carl B. Taylor Auditorium in the music school of SUNY Schenectady County Community College. 7:30 p.m. $25 at the door, cash or check. http://www.aplaceforjazz.org.
Ari Hoenig. Photo provided
Hoenig follows innovators, notably hard-bop pioneer Max Roach, who punched big holes in the notion that drummers can’t, or shouldn’t, lead bands. Hoenig emphasizes melody in his playing, in small bands where each player must reaches beyond their instruments’ traditional roles.
Friday at Caffe Lena, Hoenig drums with pianist Gadi Lehavi and bassist Ben Tiberio, the same trio that released “Golden Treasures” (2022) and Tea for Three” (2024).
On more than 120 albums as leader and sideman, Hoenig has developed his melodic style with stars including Joshua Rodman, Shirley Scott, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Chris Potter.
He plays Caffe Lena (47 Phila St., Saratoga Springs) Friday as part of the Caffe’s Peak Jazz Series, sponsored by Joseph and Luann Conlon, in memory of Corinne Simonds. 8 p.m. Tickets: $27.15 (members), $30.40 (general) and $15.20 (students and children). 518-583-0022 www.caffelena.org.
Seriously Sad Caffe Lena Note:
Monday night, the Caffe lost Joel Moss, longtime sound engineer for live streaming. Grammy winner as producer or engineer, Moss was a reassuringly confident, super-competent musical technician; also a sweet, quietly witty presence that made him a friend to everyone who crossed his path.
Joel Moss, the late, great. Photo provided
When New Orleans-style jazz clarinetist Evan Christopher played Caffe Lena some seasons ago, he recognized Moss from playing a Los Angeles session Moss had produced. Awed, Christopher asked to be introduced to Moss.
Moving from Detroit to Los Angeles in 1969, Moss produced or engineered records for Little Richard, Ray Charles, Joe Cocker, Johnny Cash, the Eagles, Talking Heads, Red Hot Chili Peppers and too many more to list.
By 1986, he ran LA’s Record Plant and Paramount Pictures studio where he produced film and TV scores.
Later, in New York, he made Broadway cast recordings and won a Grammy for Best Musical Show Album for the Lin-Manuel Miranda/Quiara Alegria Hudes smash “In The Heights.” Nominated 11 times, Moss won seven Grammy Awards, including for Ray Charles’s last album. He also won an Academy Award, was nominated for two Emmy Awards and was inducted into the 2022 Capital Region Thomas Edison (the “Eddys”) Hall of Fame.
In Saratoga, Moss produced the regional compilation “Saratoga Pie” and many other projects, and engineered hundreds of live streaming performances from Caffe Lena – where he had performed as a member of Detroit’s folk group the Hi-Liters not long after the Caffe opened. He was so modestly self-effacing you’d only know his achievements by talking with musicians.
“Joel, I’m incredibly grateful to have had you in my life and honored to have become good friends,” wrote Brian Malick on Facebook. “The world is a lot darker and colder today, but your warm loving beautiful spirit will be with us for the rest of our days… Blessed to have been in the music with you more times then I can count, and thank you for a truly remarkable inspiring legacy of work.”
“Joel was a fierce, loving, impassioned force of a man” wrote Lecco Morris. “He was always buzzing — with the beauty of his current project, his anger and hope for the state of the world, his belief that making incredible things together would chip away at the ugliness of the world and lift people up…He was utterly disinterested in anything except beauty and honesty, and would tirelessly support anyone and any project that he believed in….So honored to have spent so many working years on so many projects with such a dauntless, pure artist as Joel. My love to (wife, photographer and music lover) Terri-Lynn Pellegri, who hung the sky for Joel. In his honor we have to make true, beautiful things, without compromise.”
Amen and amen.
Hoke's Jukebox 