Let me start with a simple message for jazz and supremely enthusiastic rhythmic World Music lovers: go to the Cuban Jam at Zinc Bar on W 3rd St in Greenwich Village on Thursday nights!
It’s something one must experience at least once if they are ever in NYC. And if you are like me and have a pulse, there will be a very high likelihood you will want to relive this moving visceral experience many times over, again and again.
This is where the incredible Axel Tosca Trio performs with the legendary OG “Voice of Cuba” Xiomara Laugart. There are two shows every Thursday at 9:30 pm and 11:00 pm. Tickets are $30 and it is well worth the price of admission.
While visiting Zinc Bar, you will be treated to some of the best specialty mixed drinks in NYC, with names like “Strangers in the Night” and “The Bird.”
Holy Cow! What an amazing band! The Axel Tosca Trio is one of the best trios I’ve seen or heard. I would not have believed it unless I’d seen it myself. I even asked Alex, the owner, “Are they always this good?” He said matter-of-factly, “Yeah, that’s why they’ve been here every Thursday for over 10 years.”
November 30 at Zinc Bar: An Incredible Performance
On November 30, the 3x Grammy nominated Cuban jazz pianist Axel Tosca, accompanied by his great upright bass player Yunior Terry and fabulous drummer David Frazier, Jr., put on an Oscar Peterson-like performance.
He began with two of his original compositions from his upcoming 2024 album ironically slated to be titled “The New Sensation Axel Tosca.” After all, Axel has been widely known to be an international musician on the vanguard of Cuban jazz since 2005 when he emigrated from Cuba to the U.S. and landed a two-year residency in Las Vegas with the “Havana Nights Revue.” These instrumental improvisations were eloquent explorations in a heavenly jazz music that evoked truly emotional moments which touched my inner soul.
For the entire duration of the first two compositions, spanning 26 minutes, I could not put my camera down. Each of the trio’s beautiful chord changes, sweeping arpeggios, and complex Cuban rhythms led me down a new musical journey. There were moments during Axel’s incredible performance both sonically and rhythmically where, in my mind, I kept comparing it to Peterson’s amazing 1974 virtuosic tour de force “Blues Etude” where the maestro adroitly moves between impossibly fast boogie woogie, jazz, bebop, blues, and stride piano.
Axel combined highly syncopated rhythms and polyrhythms with beautiful melodies within his astonishing improvised solos, leading his seasoned trio to lay down sophisticated sheets of sound while incorporating grooves that at various times walked, swung, and bopped. However, despite displaying such a formidable technical prowess, Axel’s technique first and foremost always served the composition, never at the expense of evoking emotion within the music.
The great trio continued performing several additional original compositions off of Axel Tosca’s 2006 eponymous first album.
It’s a Family Affair
Thursday nights at Zinc Bar are truly a “family affair” when Axel’s mother, Xiomara Laugart, the “Queen of Trova,” takes the stage. Coming from a prestigious musical family, Axel’s father is Cuban folk singer Alberto Tosca.
It was about three-quarters into the set when Axel stood up touting to the audience “Now we’re going to take you back to Cuba, but you won’t need a passport!” Proudly introducing his mom to the stage, he perfectly began playing his spirited lilting interpretation of “El Manisero,” the classic anthology song of a peanut vendor.
Laugart dipped and swayed about on the stage with her infectious smile and delivered a purely magical vocal rendition. She ended the set with a jubilant performance of “De Mis Recuerdos,” swaying to the rhythms while bringing the entire house up on their feet chanting calls and responses to the song’s signature hook “Ba, ba, dom, Ba dom, Ba, dom.” This song (written by Juan Formell) is off of Laugart’s 2006 album. Axel’s lively arrangement at Zinc Bar with a samba vibe was the best version I’ve heard, and such a fitting way to end the set, leaving an indelible mark to be remembered by all.
With patrons dancing in the aisles and smiles everywhere, while vamping those lilting piano chords throughout the closing outro music, Axel got on the mic and said, “Thanks. You folks, this is the Cuban Jam, we’ll take a short break. See you at the next show at 11:00 pm!”
A perfect “feel good” ending to a “Must See” Thursday night show in the Village that should be on anyone’s NYC bucket list!
Catch my full interview with Axel Tosca on YouTube.
To learn more about this incredible pianist and composer and to see 2024 Tour dates, go to axeltosca.com
Link to the Village View article: https://villageview.nyc/2024/01/05/axel-tosca-trio-and-the-legendary-xiomara-laugart-rock-the-cuban-jam-live-every-thursday-at-zinc-bar-a-must-see-event-in-nyc/
Kaju Roberto is an accomplished musician, singer/ songwriter, journalist, and an award-winning producer. He is the artist Rad Jet on Spotify. https://open.spotify.com/artist/32si7c4nk210HPuqbXvhJg