At 8:00 p, Sunday, December 30, The Greenwich Tavern will host an evening of music featuring two acts that are some of the best jazz musicians in the city. The opening act, the very talented jazz and lovely April Alosio, has been around long enough to have an album out on vinyl (I know, because I own it), and the artists she’s worked with include the phenomenally gifted guitarist Fareed Haque. April has a fine voice that sounds equally at home with both bossa nova and jazz standards, and I look forward to catching up with her.
The headliners for the evening are the duet of King Reeves on vibes and Charlie Wilson on piano. In my mind the two of them together are the best jazz group in the city. In fact, I like King and Charlie even better as a duet than when they form two-fifths of a quintet, as they sometimes do. In the more scaled-down setting their sense of time is more elastic than it could ever be in a larger group setting. Also, you can tell that they push each other. If Reeves is that much more groove-oriented, when the situation warrants Charlie whips out some Filthy McNasty himself—and just about the time you think Charlie Wilson has out-razzledazzled all competitors by deconstructing and reconstructing a melody in every possible way, Reeves comes back with something even wilder. Really there’s no need for a rhythm section, as these guys are gonna swing no matter what. Continue reading “Charlie Wilson and King Reeves at the Greenwich Tavern Sunday, December 30”