Located in a basement where an actual speakeasy was in operation during the 1930s, My Little Secret is decorated with is like someone’s (admittedly well-stocked) living room, with a relaxed, non-intimidating feel despite the fact that clients need to be buzzed in after being given a visual once-over and an OK by the manager.

The small-plates menu includes deep-fried risotto balls ($9), tasty lobster sliders ($18) and a varied selection of cured meats and cheeses (three items, $20; five items, $25). Those with a taste for simpler fare can also choose from pressed sandwich offerings ($12) or grilled polenta topped with tallegio, prosciutto and tomato coulis ($8). Another option is the two-course risotto tasting ($25) prepared with white truffle oil and steamed lobster.

“I always had the idea of opening a bar here in Little Italy that would be different from all the restaurants in the neighborhood,” says owner “Baby” John DeLutro (who also owns Caffe Palermo across the street) over glasses of wine at the restaurant. “I wanted to change the course of Little Italy by serving small plates. Because growing up and being Italian, you’re always eating big meals, so I wanted small meals, like the Spanish tapas, and I wanted to have an underground wine bar.

“I gave the room the ambiance of a speakeasy of the Al Capone days,” he explains. “I mean, it’s nothing like it was then, but I’ve got barrels of wine on the wall, I have an Al Capone room, I have a bodyguard by the door and some old-fashioned cocktails. And there is the word of mouth—no canopy, no sign, no advertisement. And after six weeks, we’re doing phenomenal.”

Though DeLutro follows the smallplates trend, the choices are actually inspired by his experience growing up. “I enjoy appetizers more than I enjoy full-course meals,” he explains. “On any given Sunday in my household, my mother would set the table and she would put four or five kinds of dishes, like roasted peppers, tomato and mozzarella, a salad, some sopresatta, and we’d dig in.You’d come home with your wife or girlfriend, you’d pick up some plates and hand-pick all those little pieces.”

Among the reasons for making the place “hidden” had to do with his experience in the area. “I try to see who comes into my place. I want a nice clientele. People come in, they enjoy themselves, they sit for hours and nobody bothers them,” he explains. “I’m open until 4 a.m. and I don’t allow any drugs here,” he says. “There are a lot of bars in this neighborhood, and having been born and raised around here, I know a lot about drugs.”

> My Little Secret

149 Mulberry St. (at Grand St.), 646- 448-4535.

ON THE COVER of its latest CD Eager To Please, the three members of Portland, Maine-based The Leftovers (Kurt Baker, Andrew Rice and Adam Woronoff) look both dazed and stoned, which maybe reflects on the strain of the long tours that have taken the guys around the country and abroad. “The whole process of putting out the record took a long time,” explains Woronoff, the drummer. “We had a photo shoot in Malibu at a beach, and it was just the picture we landed on.We definitely didn’t want to have a cheesy cover with us jumping in the air or anything, but looking back I suppose we could have chosen a livelier photo.”

On its website, the band describes its sound as “directly centered between Ramones and The Beatles.” Alongside distorted guitars and an overall highenergy groove, the band produces a ’60s-inspired melodic structure with close three-part harmonies. “When we started we were mostly influenced by bands like Screeching Weasel,The Queers and Bouncing Souls,” says Woronoff. “As we got older we all started to get back in touch with the music we grew up listening to as young children, which was the ’60s pop and rock our parents had.”

Listening to the new record, one gets what Woronoff means.The music has an almost familiar feel the moment you hear their songs, but at once you realize they are not merely copycats.Tunes like “She She She” and “Up and Around” have a raw, unrehearsed feel until the guitar riffs and harmonies come in, and the classic influence can clearly be felt in “Telephone Operator,” which sounds like cross between Chuck Berry’s “Memphis” and The Beatles’ “Please Please Me.”

“Kurt wrote that song with this guy Wyatt who plays in a band called Second Saturday,” recalls Woronoff. “It was just a catchy song that we all really liked.The guitar riff was actually added by our producer, Linus of Hollywood.We tracked all of our songs live and then took a few days and added things like guitar solos, pianos and vocals. It was in one of those sessions where Linus came up with that little guitar part. We thought it sounded great and added a lot to the song.The similarity to ‘Please Please Me’ wasn’t quite intentional, but perhaps on some subliminal level it was.”

> The Leftovers

Dec. 3, Southpaw, 125 5th Ave. (betw. St. Johns & Sterling Pls.), Brooklyn, 718-230-0236; 7, $12

Formed in 2006 after Sarah Kronen and Thomas Allen met at a Cambridge, Mass. watering hole, Drug Rug has since been quite active. “I met Sarah at this place in Cambridge, and we soon started making demos,” Allen explains. “So one day someone came along and asked if we wanted to put it out [as an album], so we had to do a whole record in very little time.”

Allen says that the group’s name—which refers to the Baja-style of hoodie—came from a friend of his. “It doesn’t really fit our band or our sound, but when we were starting out we wanted people to remember it.” Another thing about the band’s creation is the fact that the duo’s musical relationship blossomed around the same time that Kronen and Thomas’ own romance story began.

“We would play guitars together when we hung out,” he recalls. “We’d play each other songs, and then the next time we got together we kind of just fell into it.”

Though Allen acknowledges his group’s psychedelic leanings, he says that it never intentionally set out to write songs in that manner. “We’re not going for anything in particular,” he says. “I’ll be at home with my guitar kind of working on songs, and Sarah maybe pitches in.” And about that ‘60s influence? He says the inspiration came from “a radio station here in Cambridge that plays nothing but ‘60s and ‘70s music.”

On stage, Drug Rug’s music sounds edgier than on the album, thanks to Kronen’s strong vocals and Allen’s guitar chops.

Each has a great live persona, which Thomas describes as simply “being ourselves,” and neither shows the bashfulness that other bands peddling retro-sounding tunes are known for.

Now on their first real East Coast tour to promote sophomore disc Paint The Fence Invisible, it’s not unlikely that Drug Rug will end up defining what the next decade’s music will sound like.

> Drug Rug

Oct. 23, Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (betw. Bowery & Chrystie St.), 212-533-2111; 6, $15.

“That idea came after the last gig we did here earlier this year,” says Jovanotti. “We did a concert at the Highline Ballroom that was sold out, and the day after that there was the thought of coming here again to do another concert at a bigger place, but I really wanted to do something different.”

Jovanotti regularly visits the U.S. during the summer just to relax and enjoy the beach, but this time around he also decided to do some performances. “I come with my family for three months every year, and I felt like doing something really underground in small clubs,” he tells me. “I didn’t care how many people would come to see us or which kind of place we played, I was just interested in doing music in a relaxed atmosphere like a laboratory to establish relationships with some American musicians and to have fun, at the same exploring another phase of music for me.

“I was blessed for a long period of time when I played really big venues for huge audiences, but there is another pleasure in our job, which is to play in a small club, with little technical devices, just this raw energy, and that is what I wanted to do.”

The singer-songwriter started out over two decades ago as a rapper, but he always kept an open mind about his musical influences. Over the years, he began veering into a more melodic direction, and that led to collaborations with the likes of Brazil’s Daniela Mercury, Sergio Mendes, Bono, Ben Harper and Michael Franti (of Spearhead).

“I’m getting old,” he says with a laugh. “From my point of view, everything is much more natural. It’s like when you live with a person for many years, there is an evolution. As far as my music goes, the energy for me is always the same.

“I like hip-hop because it is the music that got me started out in the ’80s. And then I moved from hip-hop to every style that I like. I started as a DJ, and my mind has always worked like the mind of a DJ. I’m not interested in choreography or anything like that, but in a coherent kind of sound. I like to represent the moment in which I am at a given moment, I guess.”

>Jovanotti
Aug.  5, Santos Party House; 100 Lafayette St. (betw. White & Walker Sts.), 212-584-5492; 7; $20

Artists appearing this year include Colombia’s Aterciopelados, local favorites Los Amigos Invisibles, Puerto Rico’s Calle 13, Argentina’s Juana Molina, Brazil’s Curumin and many lesser-known bands and musicians that use the opportunity to network, be heard and possibly land a record deal.

Among these is Argentinean-born and recent New York transplant Federico Aubele, who makes his second appearance at the conference. “I performed at the LAMC for the first time two years ago at Central Park Summerstage,” he says over a phone interview. “It was beautiful—we did sort of a hybrid electro-acoustic set, kind of using some beats I created with my guitar. This will be my first time as a New Yorker, and we’ll be performing songs from my new album rearranged to create unique versions of the tunes.”

The music that Aubele makes is an attempt to bring tango and bolero to the 21st century without losing touch with its roots—in addition to the bandoneon (an accordion-like instrument) and acoustic guitar, he also adds electronic beats and loops effectively creating a a very personal texture to his compositions. He is influenced both by the music he grew up listening to as a child and the genres he became interested in as he grew up. “My mother was an amateur musician, so she liked to play music for me all the time, and she was really into ’60s folk music, bossa nova and bolero,” he says. “Generally speaking I received a lot of Latin influences from her side. But as I grew, I started to listen to a lot of rock and punk rock—by the time I was grown I went back to my Latin roots and sort of mixed together with what I’d discovered.”

On his latest disc Amartoria, Aubele features several New York-based guests, among them Sabina Sciubba and Miho Hatori, two vocalists known for their involvement with the so-called “Nublu scene,” something Aubele does not consider himself part of that. “I moved here a couple of months ago,” he said. “I know the people that go there, I know Miho, Sabina and all The Brazilian Girls guys, I know Forro in The Dark and all that, but I’m not really a part of that place. I’ve never performed there, actually.”

Though he has only been residing here for a short time, Aubele says that the city makes sense for him—especially because of his career. “I’ve always liked New York a lot,” he explains. “It gave me a lot as a performer, and it always felt like a city I was close to. My booking agency is here, my management is here, and a lot of things are going on here. So I thought it would be good to make the move here.”

As he adapts to life as a new New Yorker, he is keeping busy with performances around the country. “We have a promotional tour for the album that will go on until October,” he says. “We’ll be playing Lolapalooza, the Austin City Limits festival and the Montreal Jazz festival opening for Diana Krall, which is also very good.

Aubele believes that being part of the LAMC is a great opportunity both for Latin artists and for those interested in the different genres (including metal and hip-hop) that are showcased during the event. “The last time I was part of it, I got to do a lot of press, because they could reach out to me just by being at the conference,” he recalls. “It was a very good promotional tool for me, and that worked out very well. It’s a very good opportunity to check out a lot of music in a more unconventional way.”

>Latin American Music Conference
Through July 11, for information on the show times, panels and ticket prices, visit www.latinalternative.com Federico Aubele performs on July 9 at the Bowery Ballroom, 6 Delancey St. (betw. Bowery & Chrystie St.), 212-533-2111; 8 PM; $ 15

For the 14th consecutive year, the Theater for The New City presents its annual Lower East Side Arts Festival, a multimedia event that includes theatrical events, concerts and visual arts, including a collective exhibit by 46 neighborhood artists curated by Loisaida Artists Collective founder Carolyn Ratcliffe, who personally selected the different pieces in the show, which will be open until June 30.

As expected in a collective of this magnitude, the styles of the works shown here vary greatly, ranging from photography and sculpture to abstract and concrete paintings portraits and beyond. Two examples of these are a mural by TFANC resident artist Jeanete Arnoni-K (pictured) that she describes as “a permanent work in progress” and a dinosaur painted on a discarded guitar case  by Mike Rimbaud, who doubles as an independent musician and painter, which the artists says represents the marriage between his musical and artistic sides.

According to Ratcliffe, the selection process was quite informal—the criteria was “basically that you lived or worked on the Lower East Side,” she explains.

Many of the artists have yet to make their break into the arts world, and Ratcliffe has been instrumental in trying to make it happen via various similar exhibits done over the years in her neighborhood.

Choosing what to show wasn’t hard, either. “Artists were asked to submit three images, and I picked two out of three of them,” she says. “The artists whom I’ve worked with for a long time… I know their work, since I’ve been showing them since 1995 and the people from the Theater for The New City have their own group of artists who they have shown.”

According to Ratcliffe, many of the works showcased in the room are for sale by the artists, although some artists preferred not to mention it. “Not all the artists wanted to sell their work,” she says. “Morena [Saenz] said she didn’t have a price that she could name for her painting La Luna, George [Smol] said that if he sold it he would have a quote, but he has listed it as not for sale—it just depended on the artist.

>Through June 30, Theater for The New City Gallery, 155 1st Ave. (betw. E. 8th & E. 9th Sts.), 212-254-1109; Sunday through Wednesday from 3 to 5; Thursday through Saturday from 5 to 7, FREE

In the spring of 1994, a jazz aficionado named Mitch Borden started the West Village–based Smalls Jazz Club, an after-hours basement where musicians and fans came together to celebrate the music they loved. Back then, things were quite different:There was a $10 cover charge and a loose BYOB policy.The music went on pretty much until the sun came up—a laidback scene quite different from other mainstream jazz venues in Manhattan. For starters, patrons not only brought six-packs from the neighborhood deli but also brought pizza, Chinese food or whatever munchies they could get.

But that was then. These days Smalls has a full bar and heftier cover charge, but the spirit remains.

“Mitch single-handedly created and ran the club from 1994 to 2002,” says current co-owner Spike Wilner. “Then in 2002 several things happened.The rent skyrocketed, and also there were other issues such as the fire code.The place was just a raw basement in the beginning, and the city was coming down hard, so he kind of closed bankrupt.”

However, a place with Smalls’ strong draw wouldn’t go quietly. “Around that time another guy came along and got this space with the intention of opening a new place altogether,” explains Wilner. “He renovated the space and brought it up to code, but after two months nobody would come in there, and if they did, they’d ask if it was Smalls and, when he’d say no, they would just turn around and leave.”

Instead of allowing it to go under again, the businessman contacted Borden to offer him the job of managing the club—with its original name reinstated. “Mitch agreed, and that went on until 2006, but that guy was really not interested in running a jazz club, so he started looking for a way to get out of it,” says Wilner. “That’s when I came along with another musician named Lee Kostrinsky—one of my partners who, along with Mitch Borden and I, have run the business since February 2007.”

Today, the three partners are working to bring back the original club’s vibe. “Since that time we have been trying to restore it to what it was before—this freewheeling atmosphere with very high-level musicians playing continuously with a commitment to afterhours and just trying to really keep that alive in that part of the city and in New York.”

As the club continues to grow in popularity, the owners have been looking into the future: There are plans for a major overhaul of their website that will allow fans to stream concerts over the Internet, and they have also started their own music label. Recently they’ve even ventured into book publishing, putting out Why Pat Cooks, a collection of poems by Kostrinsky.

At 15 years old, Smalls is back on track and seems geared to stay that way. Not bad for what started out as a small basement club in Greenwich Village.

> Smalls

183 W. 10th St. (at 7th Ave. South), 212-252-5091

Among the new names that have emerged in the scene in recent times are singer-songwriters Jair Oliveira and Mariana Aydar, who will be appearing during Brazil Fest, a two-day event that takes place at Symphony Space March 13 and 14.

“I have been writing a lot of new songs since my last record came out in 2006,” said Oliveira by phone from São Paulo. “So the concert I am preparing for the New York will feature my own material as a songwriter—which is a side of my work that I want to introduce to a new audience—and also some tunes that audiences will recognize as classics of Brazilian popular music.”

The son of legendary samba crooner Jair Rodrigues, Oliveira (whose sister Luciana Mello is also a respected singer in her own right) pretty much grew up in the public eye as co-star of Balão Mágico, a popular Brazilian children’s TV show in the 1980s. During the 1990s, he studied at Boston’s Berklee School of Music, where he earned degrees in music business, production and engineering in 1998, the year he launched his solo career.  

Oliveira said that today’s music scene in Brazil is generally unfavorable for independent artists, but that has caused them to discover new ways of making their work known. “The phonographic industry here is in shambles,” he explained. “You cannot hear anything fresh through mainstream TV or radio here these days, but on the other hand, through the Internet and alternative media you can find lots of interesting things going on: there are new songwriters, musicians and artists who are creating great material, but unfortunately they are not widely recognized because Brazilian audiences still depend what they see on TV; and unfortunately, the networks do not show the real face of Brazil—especially when it comes to the cultural side.”

This has prompted many up-and-coming musicians to discover new markets outside the country, where names like Bebel Gilberto, Aydar, and Oliveira himself are better known than they are back home. “Around the time I returned to Brazil, I signed with [indie label] Trama, which embraced a lot of young, unsigned artists and, fortunately, a lot of of us had positive responses in Europe—especially in Germany, England and France.”

Oliveira recently appeared as an actor in Walter Lima Jr.’s Slightly Out of Tune, a film about a fictional bossa nova–era band featured here during last year’s Cine Fest Brazil at Central Park SummerStage and Tribeca. “It is not something I actively pursue, but I am glad that every now and then directors remember me and invite me to participate.”

Friday, March 13 & 14, Peter Norton Symphony Space, Broadway at W. 95th St., 212-864-5400; 8, $30 one day/ $50 for both shows.

His widow Sue Mingus, who has published several books of her late husband’s music over the years, has noticed a renewed interest in his canon—something that sparked the idea of putting together an annual Mingus high school competition, which premieres at The Manhattan School of Music with a threeday summit celebrating everything Mingus.

“What we did two years ago was to start a special series for beginners, for first-year students, for high-schoolers called Simply Mingus,” she explains. “It took off like a brush fire, and we were surprised, because most thought that Mingus’ music was too complicated, too difficult, [or] too inaccessible, and it’s amazing how these kids take the music.We discovered that there was a hunger for these charts in high schools, so we’ve been adding more and more charts every few months.”

Every Monday night, Sue Mingus directs the Mingus Legacy Band at The Jazz Standard, a venue she considers ideal for this project, which began a decade and a half ago. “We moved to the Jazz Standard in the beginning of October,” she tells us. “We at a place called the Time Cafe at Fez, we started in 1991 or 1993, and we were there for a dozen years.We went to a couple of places after that and now it’s feel like we’ve come back home, it’s the closest thing to what Fez used to feel like, and it’s a great place for us to play and it’s good for fans as well.” The Mingus summit will include the high school competition, panel discussions and also performances from jazz musicians active in the national scene. “We had been wanting to do a Mingus high school competition and we were looking for a place to hold this,” she says. “I spoke with [jazz director] Justin Di- Cioccio to see if we could hold it at the Manhattan School of Music and he said that we could hold it there. He decided to do a Mingus summit along with it, so that we have ended up with a wonderful three-day event.”

Among the participants are Pulitzer Prize–winning conductor Gunther Schuller (a longtime Mingus supporter) and bassist Boris Koslav, who will be performing alongside the Mingus Dynasty Band with one of Mingus’ original basses. “He plays with Charles’ Lionshead bass,” Sue Mingus says. “There were four basses here when Charles died.
One of them is still here, it’s between the size of a cello and a bass,
and he used it for bowing. It’s a bass that Boris loves playing, and
it’s a bass that loves to be played.”

Sue Mingus believes that
her husband’s legacy is far more present today than it was at the time
of his death. “It’s more far-reaching now than it was when Charles was
alive,” she states. “A change in perception between the time when
Charles lived and now is that he is acknowledged as one of the foremost
American composers.That was not true when he was alive—people didn’t
think of Mingus as a composer, they saw him as a virtuoso bass player,
a bandleader and a colorful character on stage. He believed he was
first and foremost a composer, but that was not the perception; people
didn’t play his music the way they played Duke Ellington.

[Today,]
the music is being used in movies and TV, and other people are playing
it and his life [work] is demanding, and that’s the purpose of the high
school competition—to bring this music to kids.”

On her self-titled major-label debut, Esperanza Spalding demonstrates that she is an artist who keeps an open mind, avoiding the trappings of niche genres. She skillfully takes on a diverse array of styles ranging from samba, Latin, hard-driving jazz and R&B.

Such eclecticism probably wouldn’t work in less confident hands, but Spalding revels in these multiple directions without sounding pretentious. She is a talented singer, bassist and tunesmith willing to take risks and explore different influences as a tool to explore her creativity. She has undeniable talent that might quickly include her among names like Stanley Clarke and Marcus Miller—we’ll have to just wait and see. The Press caught up with her as she wrapped a European tour, and talked about her early career, the music that inspired her and also her upcoming New York concerts.

In addition to playing bass, you are also a singer—how did you find your voice, and how does that interact with your bass playing?

The bass and voice interaction are starting to feel more and more like two extensions of one instrument…I hardly think of them as separate when I am playing my own music. And, the voice came into my playing when I needed to start learning standards for gigs. I would go to my friend’s house, and he would teach me by ear the melodies and root movement of songs.

Once I had memorized the melodies and bass notes, it was much easier to remember the tunes. From practicing like this, I was proficient enough to sing and play in a pop band that hired me first as a bassist and then later as a lead singer. And with this band did I really start developing the concept of singing and playing in a performance setting.

On your debut, you sing in English, Spanish and Portuguese. How did you become interested in international music?

At the beginning of my life as a bassist, lots of different friends and fellow musicians would make me mixed tapes and mixed CDs to I could check out what they were into. Through this I heard my first taste of Brazilian music.Then, I followed my love of the sound, and kept asking for more music in that vein.The more people I met with different collections, the more I heard and learned and came to love.

Not many young musicians get to be encouraged by Pat Metheny while also getting to tour with Joe Lovano. What do you attribute your early success to?

Partly being in the right place at the right time and trying to foresee what I could do to prepare for each encounter that I had access to. But, maybe the real thing is [that] all great masterful musicians want to share the knowledge with up-and-coming musicians. I suppose they saw in me potential…coupled with a willingness to do the work necessary to achieve as much of that potential as possible.

I have always thought that Jazz Standard is a unique venue. It’s not a tourist attraction but has a big enough name in the scene. How do you plan to approach your gigs there?

It is always nice to come home and play for friends and family. So, I know I am gonna feel warm and comfy. I plan to approach it musically the same I would anywhere: Prepare a set that best fits the energy I feel from the room and rock the house! You are right; Jazz Standard is a very special place. [It has] a perfect balance of people who just dropped by out of curiosity of the venue, so they are open to whatever, and people who have come specifically come to check out the band. But I like playing for people who don’t know what to expect. It’s like getting an uncontaminated reading of how your music affects audiences. I am really looking forward to these shows.

> Esperanza Spalding

Feb. 12 through Feb. 15, Jazz Standard, 116 E. 27th St. (betw. Park & Lexington Aves.), 212-576-2232; 7:30 & 9:30, $25-$30.

—–

Below is the full transcript of the interview. 

I saw that at first you played the violin. How was the transition from that to the double bass?

Well, the transition wasn’t direct. Since I didn’t really assume I would become a serious bassist, I would just fiddle (no pun intended;) around with the bass on days I didn’t have anything else to do in school. But, the theory and basic reading skills I had acquired during my years as a violinist was very helpful as I started studying bass.

In addition to playing bass, you are also a singer—how did you find your voice, and how does that interact with your bass playing?

The bass and voice interaction are starting to feel more and more like two extensions of one instrument…I hardly think of them as separate when I am playing my own music. And, the voice came into my playing when I needed to start learning standards for gigs. I would go to my friend’s house and he would teach me by ear the melodies and root movement of songs. Once I had memorized the melodies and bass notes, it was much easier to remember the tunes. From practicing like this, I was proficient enough to sing and play in a pop band that hired me first as a bassist and then later as a lead singer. And with this band did I really start developing the concept of singing and playing in a performance setting.

On your debut, you sing in English, Spanish and Portuguese. How did you become interested in international music?

At the beginning of my life as a bassist, lots of different friends and fellow musicians would make me mixed tapes and mixed CDs to I could check out what they were into. Through this I heard my first taste of Brazilian music. Then, I followed my love of the sound, and kept asking for more music in that vein. The more people I met with different

Do you actually speak those languages?

Yes! I am not 100% fluent by a long shot. But, I do speak Spanish and Portuguese.

Not many young musicians get to be encouraged by Pat Metheny while also getting to tour with Joe Lovano. What do you attribute your early success to?

Partly being in the right place at the right time and trying to foresee what I could do to prepare for each encounter that I had access to. But, maybe the real thing is [that] all great masterful musicians want to share the knowledge with up-and-coming musicians. I suppose they saw in me potential…coupled with a willingness to do the work necessary to achieve as much of that potential as possible

How was it to become part of the faculty at Berklee before the age of 25?

The president invited me to join the faculty. And, I suppose he thought that having a person who is current and involved in the professional scene, actively in the process of building a career, would be a good resource for the students.

You’ve been touring extensively—how have audiences received you? Are there difference between stages in New York, Florida and Europe?

There are many differences between every audience of course, but it is never a consistent pattern. And, the disposition of an audience in one city can even change between different performances in the same venue. Often, I think our energy from the stage is the most influential element as in terms of how an audience will react. In the past I have blamed audiences for being un-enthusiastic or "sucking my energy", but that is a very self centered, and dismissive view. We have a responsibility to give the people a good show, and a good time. I notice when my focus changes to inviting their energy and enthusiasm out and into the club, we never feel like we are playing for a dead room.

I have always thought that Jazz Standard is a unique venue. It’s not a tourist attraction but has a big enough name in the scene. How do you plan to approach your gigs there?

It is always nice to come home and pay for friends and family. So, I know I am gonna feel warm and comfy. I plan to approach it musically the same I would anywhere: Prepare a set that best fits the energy I feel from the room and rock the house!
You are right; Jazz Standard is a very special place. [It has] a perfect balance of people who just dropped by out of curiosity of the venue, so they are open to whatever, and people who have come specifically come to check out the band. But I like playing for people who don’t know what to expect. It’s like getting an uncontaminated reading of how your music affects audiences. I am really looking forward to these shows.