Adam Shatz, in his absorbing “In the Vanguard of Trio Jazz with Micah Thomas” (NYR Daily, May 29, 2020), describes a place I’ve always wanted to visit:
Ever since the Covid-19 era began, I’ve been daydreaming about a basement down a flight of stairs on 7th Avenue South, in the West Village. It’s a room where I’ve spent many late-night hours over the last thirty years. There’s a small bar in back, a stage in front. The tables are packed so closely together that it was probably some kind of hazard even before the pandemic, at least for those who had to navigate between them, taking orders and serving drinks. The green-felt walls are covered with framed photographs of John Coltrane, Bill Evans, Dexter Gordon, Cecil Taylor, and others. It’s not a beautiful room, it’s even a little shabby, but it’s a room dedicated to beauty—the beauty of live jazz at the Village Vanguard.
Shatz goes on to mention some of the trios he’s seen at the Vanguard – “trios led by Tommy Flanagan and Geri Allen (both now deceased), Fred Hersch, Craig Taborn, and Jason Moran.”
One of my favourite trio albums is “The Bill Charlap Trio: Live at the Village Vanguard,” recorded in September, 2003. It contains nine tracks, including Gerry Mulligan’s “Rocker,” Vernon Duke’s “Autumn In New York,” and Harold Arlen’s “My Shining Hour.” Charlap’s rendition of “My Shining Hour” is exquisite. The whole album is exquisite! It puts me there, in that “room dedicated to beauty” – the one and only Village Vanguard.
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