I spent Presidents’ Week in New York working at the annual New York Hot Jazz Camp. I have missed only one year in the Camp’s 11-year history. The timing has moved from April to February to take advantage of lower hotel rates for the campers. There is also the issue of conforming to school vacations, as the venue’s (the Greenwich House Music School) schedule is aligned with the public school calendar. Approximately 45 campers attended, from 17 states and 5 countries. Perhaps as many as ten had attended previous Camps.
This year’s faculty: Dennis Lichtman, reeds; co-director Bria Skonberg, trumpet; Ron Wilkins, trombone; Tal Rosen, bass; Justin Poindexter, strings; Conal Fowkes, piano; Alex Raderman, drums; and Cat Russell, vocals. Unless you’re a musician looking to improve your trad jazz chops, anything I write about the camp might be of scant interest to you. Suffice it to say that the faculty is world class and it seems that everyone who attends leaves at a higher skill level.
Being in town for a week gave me a chance to take in some of the city’s finest talent. On Monday I saw Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks at Birdland, their post-COVID home. I’ve followed this band for 40 years and have seen them literally dozens of times. They’ve never disappointed. On this occasion there were several subs: Dan Pearson on reeds for Dan Levinson; Evan Arntzen for Will Anderson
