heart of gold - The New York City Jazz Record

smallsLIVE
by Alex Henderson
It’s safe to say that very few independent jazz labels
are doing the type of thing that pianist Spike Wilner is
doing with smallsLIVE. The New York City-based
label is not only unusual because it releases live
recordings exclusively, but also because all of those
recordings are being made in one particular venue:
Smalls Jazz Club in the West Village. So far, the label
has put out 16 CDs and the label plans to continue
building its catalogue in 2011.
“I’m in a unique position on a lot of levels,”
explains Wilner, founder/president of smallsLIVE and
manager/co-owner of Smalls. “I’m a professional jazz
musician myself, I have a label and I have access to an
incredible array of musicians at Smalls.”
Looking at the catalogue, one sees an impressive
list of players (some as leaders, some as sidemen) that
includes Albert “Tootie” Heath, Jimmy Cobb,
Mulgrew Miller, Eric Alexander, Larry Willis, Peter
Bernstein, Jim Rotondi, Ryan Kisor and Ari Hoenig.
smallsLIVE, Wilner says, reflects his belief that live
performances are a crucial part of the jazz experience
and need to be recorded as much as possible. In fact,
an extensive collection of archived live performances
at Smalls can be heard on the club’s website.
“As a long-time professional jazz musician,”
Wilner comments, “my favorite records are the live
Peter Bernstein
Live at Smalls
LABEL SPOTLIGHT
STEFAN ZENIUK was born in New York City. He
currently resides in Brooklyn. He plays saxophones
and clarinets, composes lots of music, makes videos
and paints. His group, Gato Loco, will be releasing
their new album on Winter & Winter records this
February. He is working on his first symphony, scored
for 100 tenor saxophones.
Teachers: Tim Berne was my first mentor. He gave me
my first sax when I was nine and we spent a lot of time
together. I studied formally with Andy Laster and Jon
Elliott in high school and in college I studied
composition with Annea Lockwood and Richard
Wilson.
Influences: The Lounge Lizards, Albert Ayler, Eddie
Palmieri, Dewey Redman.
Current Projects: My own groups, Gato Loco
Coconino and Gato Loco de Bajo; I’m also a member of
Tin Pan and I am Lieutenant Conquistador of the
Baritone ARMY.
By Day: I busk in the parks.
Seamus Blake
Live at Smalls
LISTEN UP!
I knew I wanted to be a musician when... I first heard
David S. Ware warming up three floors above me. I
had never heard such a large, ear-splitting cry in my
life. That was amazing.
Dream Band: Machito’s band from the AfroCuban Jazz
Suite recording session. If I could have been playing
second tenor or bari in THAT band, I think that would
12 January 2011 | ALLABOUTJAZZ-NEW YORK
ones: Sonny Rollins at the Village Vanguard,
Thelonious Monk at the Blackhawk, Miles Davis at the
Blackhawk. Those are the ones that, as an artist, you
want to hear. The studio ones are nice, but you’re
always eager to find an example of Coltrane live or
Miles live or Sonny Rollins live or some other great
artist live because that really exposes them in the truer
way. You get a real sense of what they’re about and
what they’re dealing with. And that spontaneous
energy that you get in a live situation is what we are
trying to capture.”
Wilner had been performing at Smalls for over a
decade when he became a co-owner in 2007. The
following year, smallsLIVE entered the planning stage
- and in April 2010, Wilner’s label officially started
releasing CDs. Wilner stresses that the label, like the
club itself, is not about any one particular musician but
rather, a community of musicians.
“A lot of jazz labels will sign one artist and then
try to push the heck out of that one guy, but that’s hard
to do,” Wilner emphasizes. “It’s hard to take one jazz
artist and make them a star. But collectively, you can
make an impact - and that is what we are going for
with smallsLIVE. I don’t want people to think of just
one artist when they think of Smalls Jazz Club or
smallsLIVE. It isn’t just one artist; it’s Peter Bernstein,
it’s Ethan Iverson, it’s Seamus Blake, it’s a community
of artists. These guys, together, create an impact. And
that’s how I’m trying to develop the smallsLIVE
catalogue.”
Wilner adds that because Smalls is well known all
Iverson/Heath/Street
Live at Smalls
be all I could ever ask for.
Did you know? I made an instrument that is a baritone
sax that shoots five feet of flame out of its bell. I call it
the Flame-O-Phone.
For more information, visit myspace.com/zeniuk. Gato Loco
is at Bowery Poetry Club Jan. 2nd and Drom Jan. 19th and
Gato Loco de Bajo is at ACE Hotel Jan. 29th. See Calendar.
Stefan Zeniuk
Raymond Clement 2010
Joe Hertenstein
Live at Smalls
Ari Hoenig
Drummer and composer JOE HERTENSTEIN
released his first album as a leader on Clean Feed
Records in November 2010. He holds a Master of Arts
degree from Queens College as well as a diploma from
HfM Cologne, Germany. He moved to New York in
January 2007, lives in the Jazzdorms in Brooklyn and
works frequently on both sides of the Atlantic.
Teachers: Keith Copeland, Michael Kuettner, Gene
Jackson.
Influences: Riverside, Impulse, Columbia, Prestige,
over the world he can use the Smalls brand to build
smallsLIVE as a label. “With Smalls, we have
developed an international reputation as a jazz club,”
Wilner notes. “When people visit New York, they find
Smalls. They come to Smalls even if they don’t know
who is playing because the reputation of the club is so
good. What I can do with smallsLIVE is brand the
name - and instead of trying to get traction on the
reputation of a certain artist, we can do it on the
reputation of the club.”
Talking to musicians who have had extensive
dealings with Smalls Jazz Club, it is obvious that one
of the things they appreciate about the venue is the fact
that Wilner himself is a working jazz musician.
Acoustic pianist Bruce Barth, who has a trio album
coming out on the label in 2011, observes: “The first
thing about Smalls that is striking is the vast quantity
of music on a given night and so much of it on such a
high level. Being a very fine pianist himself, Spike
books musicians he respects, whether young or old,
famous or little known. Furthermore, it’s one of the
only places left where musicians feel welcome to hang
out. So on a given night, one can go downstairs and
count on hearing quality music and running into
musicians - sometimes friends one hasn’t seen in a
long time. And you never know who may sit in.”
Drummer Ari Hoenig, another familiar face at
Smalls, asserts: “Smalls is a place run by musicians for
musicians... I think what Smalls is doing right now is
setting the pace for the future of jazz: clubs having
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 50)
Live at Smalls
Spike Wilner
Blue Note, ECM, Winter & Winter, Enja and many
indie labels. Frank Gratkowski, Matthias Schubert,
Norbert Stein, Carl Ludwig Huebsch. Elvin, Jack, Tony
Williams and Oxley, Milford, Paul Motian and Lovens,
Douglas & Zorn, Braxton, Alice Cooper, Waits, Cash
and Bach.
Current Projects: HNH features Thomas Heberer and
Pascal Niggenkemper, HNHB is HNH plus Joachim
Badenhorst and TØRN is with Achim Tang and Philip
Zoubek. My singer/songwriter project is Joe Stone and
I work for several groups as a sideman.
By Day: Watering my trees and bushes, planting new
seeds, booking flights.
I knew I wanted to be a full-time musician when...
I joined the contemporary new music ensemble of
young musicians of Germany, France and Switzerland
called DLE - Three Countries Ensemble - at the age of
14, with which I toured all over Europe. When I
learned that the majority of the older half of the
ensemble members already studied music at
conservatories and universities, I was hooked.
Dream Band: William Parker, Evan Parker and
Masabumi Kikuchi.
Did you know? I am working on a website to promote
musicians living in the Jazzdorms: thejazzdorms.com.
For more information, visit myspace.com/joehertenstein.
HNH is at Downtown Music Gallery Jan. 23rd. See Calendar.