Smalls...

Smalls, where these two clips were filmed, is a jazz club in Manhattan really worth checking out. If you haven't been to the city to see jazz live, you really should talk your parents into bringing you. We live about an hour away from the center of the jazz universe. A place where on any given night, the best and brightest musicians are playing their hearts out. Some great clubs to explore are Smoke, the Village Vanguard, Birdland and the Jazz Standard. Live music is great because there is an element of experimentation that is not often captured on albums.

This first clip is of tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart with guitarist Joe Cohn. Grant sounds a lot like Sonny Rollins to me, with a modern twist. This tune has a lot of the II-V's we've been talking about. Listen to how each idea or motive is developed before spawning the next. Grant's group plays at Smalls almost once a week.

O.K., this second clip is maybe more than a little on the dark side, but the solo is killer, and it's over a blues in F called Birdlike written by trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. The alto player in the dark is Miguel Zenon, one of jazz's rising stars. This really captures the excitement of being at a club, it's nice someone was there to capture it.