Chapter 1: In Which Paris Comes to New York
In 2019, I was lucky enough to be invited to attend Tatiana Eva Marie’s birthday party, which she held in a Brooklyn jazz club where she often played. That summer, Tatiana’s mother Anca was in town from her homes in Switzerland and Romania, and we had gotten friendly when we met up at Tatiana’s gigs. Hence the invitation.
Not surprisingly, others from the NYC jazz world were in attendance, including Arnt Arntzen, and Sara Labriola, whose dad Art I knew from the short lived but fabulous hapa haole band Tiki Daddy. I congratulated the birthday girl, danced with Anca, and as I sat near the musicians who were playing, a fellow sat down next to me, with the butt end of his guitar facing me, and he set to playing spectacular gypsy (sic) music, with flair, terrific musicality, and technical flawlessness. I remember Sara L., playing rhythm guitar to this fellow’s soloing, with a huge smile on her face, and body language that clearly demonstrated how much she enjoyed and appreciated this young man’s outstanding talent.
I know a lot of the musicians in the NYC trad jazz universe, but this fellow was unknown to me, so as any self-respecting New Yorker would do, I politely asked him “who the hell are you?!?” And he introduced himself as Duved Dunayevsky, as that was (and remains) his name. From Jerusalem by way of Paris, he was in New Y
