Live at the Café Bohemia, the electrifying new album from the Leap Day Trio featuring drummer Matt Wilson, saxophonist Jeff Lederer and bassist Mimi Jones, is out February 24, 2023.
The album was recorded at the historic NYC jazz club to mark the venue’s reopening after nearly 60 years. The band celebrates the album at the club on February 10 & 11.
When Katz proposed a recording date at the newly reopened Café Bohemia, a trio made the most sense for the somewhat cavernous space. Wilson instantly thought of Jones, who he’d recently seen perform. “I was really digging the way that I heard Mimi approach music,” he recalls. “Her spirit is to me is very reminiscent of an era of bassists that that I’ve been very fortunate to get to play with: folks like Cecil McBee, Buster Williams, Rufus Reid and Calvin Hill. They’re grounded but also have a great sense of adventure.”
All three brought in music for the date, though in the trio’s collective spirit the pieces remain uncredited on the album. It’s not always difficult to place the composer – opener “Dewey Spirit” is clearly named for Wilson’s mentor, saxophonist Dewey Redman, and “Gospel Flowers” previously appeared on a date that Lederer recorded with drummer Jeff Cosgrove and organist John Medeski – but the point is that the band was far more interested in communal invention than in individual expression.
“I loved the way it felt,” says Lederer. “The way we play in this trio is pretty distinct from the way we play in the one that works in the month of December. It creates a whole different feeling. There’s just something about the openness of it, and Mimi brings a very flowing feel to it. There’s just a lot of breath in the sound.”
“The trio only rehearsed twice before the gig,” admits Wilson, “but I could tell we were really going to throw down. Our spirits are aligned in a lot of ways. We all have differences, of course, but the overall spirit of adventure and kindness comes through.”
Originally opened as a jazz club in 1955, when Charlie Parker offered to play the room in exchange for free drinks, the original Café Bohemia barely survived two Leap Days before closing in 1960 (Bird, tragically, passed away before ever playing the club he’d willed into being). After almost six decades, the club reopened in 2019 in its original Greenwich Village space, now the basement of the Barrow Street Ale House.
https://youtu.be/kLMw7esBT4M
Cannonball Adderley was discovered at the Bohemia when he sat in with Oscar Pettiford, who penned “Bohemia After Dark” in tribute to the club. Herbie Nichols was the house pianist, and the club was the testing ground for the Prestige recordings of the Miles Davis Quintet. Marvin Koner’s famous cover image for Davis’ ‘Round About Midnight was snapped at the Bohemia, its red tint coming not a filter but from a red fluorescent light above the bandstand.
“It felt great to be back in a place that’s small and carefree,” says Wilson, citing his and Lederer’s early days as regulars at the now-defunct East Village bar Detour. “The Miles Davis Quintet – John Coltrane, Philly Joe Jones, Red Garland, Paul Chambers – used the Bohemia as their home base in New York. And the Kenny Dorham record from there is a classic.”
“I was trying not to feel the weight of history,” Lederer says. “I thought I was cool with it, but then we walked in on Friday night and the first face I see at the table is Joe Lovano. Joe is a friend, but at the same time he’s still a hero. It felt like such an event, all tied with the history of the place.”
Attended by a host of family, friends, fellow musicians, jazz history buffs and just plain fans, the Leap Day Trio’s debut was no doubt a memorable event – one that the band ensures will be repeated far more than often than every four years.
For the musicians it chooses to work with, by invitation only, Giant Step Arts:
• presents premiere performances and compensates the artists well
• records these performances for independent release
• provides the artists with 200-800 CDs and digital downloads to sell directly. Artists retain complete ownership of their masters.
• provides the artists with photos for promotional use
• provides PR support for the recordings
“Giant Step Arts will not be selling any music,” Katz says. “We have two goals: help the musicians and raise more money so we can help more musicians.”