Review: Tyreek McDole at A Place for Jazz; Friday, Nov. 7, 2025
Singer Tyreek McDole surprised even himself Friday in the season-concluding concert at A Place for Jazz. “That was the best ‘Lush Life’ I ever did!” he exclaimed after a kaleidoscopic tender yet muscular duet rendition of the Billy Strayhorn classic.
The whole two-set show surprised with both wings and roots in right-now feisty young immediacy and respect for the jazz giants McDole reveres as inspirations. Everybody is an elder to 24-year-old McDole, but his music felt as authentic in celebrating generations past as in the jittery modernism of his opening tune.
Tyreek McDole, center, with, from left: Joel Wenhardt, piano; Dan Finn, bass; Dylan Band, tenor saxophone (he also played soprano); and Gary Jones III, drums
They filed onstage without a word: McDole to a synthesizer, surrounded by bassist Dan Finn, drummer Gary Jones III, saxophonist Dylan Band and pianist Joel Wenhardt; a surprise all by himself as last-minute replacement for Caelan Cardello.
Impassive, workmanlike, McDole led into a funk vamp, at first airy and eerie, then meaty and thick in seamless waves; two-chord vamps with repeats, shifting tempos, solos pushing in, fading out.
This oblique suite challenged the audience, which went right with it. Sensing they were fully onboard – big, happy, vocal, welcoming – McDole took the mic for the first time, ten minutes in, and sang “Open Up Your Senses,” title track of his debut album, with firm confidence.
McDole’s voice proved a subtle, strong instrument, ranging from a buttery baritone with Johnny Hartman-like ease to bluesy shouts later and ethereal falsetto glides soaring sky-high. His heart powers that instrument; his music is mission-driven, idealistic.
After introducing the band as the rhythm section softly vamped and marveling that Wenhardt had learned the music in just 48 hours, McDole connected the lyric he’d just sung to the work of making a better world through open communication.
Modern master Nicholas Payton’s “The Backward Step” built from a chant-like vocal in the same pocket as Band’s soprano sax. At times breezy and Latin, like early Return to Forever, vocals subdued and calm, it grew wings as Jones’s drums fired up before a repeating-vocal coda.
Joel Wenhardt, left, and Tyreek McDole in “Lush Life,” above; and afterward, below
“Lush Life” began with nostalgic, lacy piano, like Teddy Wilson in a dream, then burst into exuberant Harlem stride, a very different antique that seemed to rev McDole’s vocal in this strong and subtle duet. McDole introduced “Somalia Rose” as a healing expression, a waltz soft and sweet in the intro, robust and pulsating as wordless voice locked with Band’s soprano sax to thrilling effect. McDole and Band built this together, easing into a recap and light-stepping coda.
Dylan Band, soprano saxophone
McDole adopted a carnival barker’s nasal bray to announce intermission, leaving us laughing, wanting more.
Like the first set, the second came cloaked in mysterious synthesizer washes, but sweet and restrained. This grew into Herbie Hancock’s beautiful “Butterfly,” a syncopated vamp that Wenhardt’s piano and McDole’s vocal carried in tight communication, soft and lyrical.
Dan Finn, bass
Another Payton tune followed, “Jazz Is a Four-Letter Word,” though McDole expanded this from a wispy skat intro into a bustling suite, changing the lyric to “Love Is A Four-Letter Word” and glancing at Jones as a cue to rev the beat. This struck Jones like lightning, like permission to push it. Always forceful, he dug deep here. After most songs he reached out to tug back his kick-drum, pushed forward by his forceful right foot; here he had to do this during the solo. McDole led a singalong here, afterward praising the “Schenectady Gospel Choir.” Some of that Gospel feel lit up what came next.
Dan Finn, electric bass, left; and Gary Jones III, drums
Rhetorically asking permission to sing a blues, McDole absolutely detonated “Lonely Avenue.” Earthy yet heavenly, soaringly soulful, this was a knock-out. Band’s tenor sax first strolled alongside McDole’s voice, then they linked like one instrument.
Tyreek McDole, left, and Dylan Brand, tenor saxophone
Down-shifting into Tadd Dameron’s ballad “If You Could See Me Now,” they echoed that same dynamic, but softly, Band’s breathy tenor and McDole’s feathery falsetto croon linking close in the retrained easy-flow middle section before a big finish.
McDole mock-fretted he was having too much fun, then quipped the intro to “The Sun Song” was “SO Hallmark!” before aiming fleet skat runs at the ceiling to reclaim the sweet number and ignite another singalong. Then he linked tight with Band’s tenor and closed by engaging the crowd again in a happy chorus.
They left to big applause and returned, with McDole taking over Jones’s drums to hit a funk groove before confessing “I had NO business doing that!” Jones reclaimed his place after jokingly refusing to rescue McDole at first.
From left, above: Joel Wenhardt, Dan Finn, Tyreek McDole, Dylan Band and Gary Jones III; below, McDole highjacks Jones’s drums
Good choice for the encore: “Everyday I Have the Blues,” all spirit, spunk and soul.
Just as McDole had revved up Jones in “Jazz Is a Four-Letter Word,” Finn’s bass, acoustic or five-string electric, basically led the band throughout. He glance-cued new-kid Wenhardt in the transitions, locked grooves tight with Jones, laid back under vocals and sax in quiet passages and stepped on the gas to push and pull the energy. He seldom soloed, though his break in “The Sun Song” was a gem; but he didn’t have to. He co-starred, all the way.
Before this season’s final show, A Place for Jazz Board President (and WCDB and WAMC jazz DJ) Bill McCann said the longtime non-profit presenter will announce its 2026 season in a spring kick-off and membership drive concert next April 19, a centennial birthday celebration honoring the late great pianist Lee Shaw.
Hoke's Jukebox 