LIVE: Chuck Lamb Trio w/Ken Peplowski @ Caffe Lena, 12/ 11/18

Review and photographs by Rudy Lu

Acclaimed clarinetist Ken Peplowski was the guest performer with the Chuck Lamb Trio at Caffe Lena’s Second Tuesday Jazz series. Peplowski also brought along his tenor saxophone and treated the audience to two sparkling sets of jazz from the swing and bebop eras.

Instead of concentrating on well-known standards, the concert featured lesser-known songs from well-known performers and composers. The styles ranged from bossa nova to swing, from ballads to bebop.

The audience came for the music. They got that and also a taste of Peplowski’s wry sense of humor. The music was played with the spirit of fun.

We were treated to Chuck Lamb’s composition based on the changes of Jobim’s classic “Girl from Ipanema” made more regional as “The Girl from Massepequa.” Instead of a lilting rhythm matching the gentle breeze on a beach, the band served up a more uptempo tune to match the chugging along of a train on the Long Island Railroad, rather than the bumper-to-bumper traffic of the Long Island Expressway.

Zoot Sims’ “Comes Love“ and Frank Sinatra’s “The Tender Trap” were easily recognizable, the latter even sans Nelson Riddle and his orchestra. With both, you could almost hear the lyrics in spite of the fact that they were played by a quartet without vocalist.

An entertaining night of swinging music was the perfect way to spend a holiday season evening.

THE CHUCK LAMB TRIO WITH KEN PEPLOWSKI SET LIST
An Affair to Remember
Comes Love
I Will Follow My Secret Heart
Menina Flor
Portrait in Blue
INTERMISSION
The Girl from Massepequa
Love Locked Out
The Blue Room
The Tender Trap
Oui

UPCOMING: Next up on Caffe Lena’s monthly Jazz at Caffe Lena Night, the Chuck Lamb Trio will be joined by special guest saxman Scott Robinson at 7pm on Tuesday (January 8). Tickets are $20 in advance; $22 at the door.