Vaudevillian troubadour Bryce Edwards and cornetist Mike Davis of The New Wonders present an encore of their Hot Combination–honoring the jazz duo of Red Nichols and Cliff Edwards (no relation)–on Sunday, June 7 at 5:30 PM at Birdland. They will be joined by an all-star band of traditional jazz specialists, including Ricky Alexander on reeds, Josh Holcomb on trombone, Felix Lemerle on guitar, Bryan Reeder on piano, Jay Rattman on bass saxophone, and Colin Hancock on drums.
A mainstay of New York studio groups in the 1920s, Red Nichols’ cool tone, inventive cornet language, and avant-garde arrangements seem to set up an alternate jazz future that never was; and though the ukulele-toting, mouth-trumpeting Cliff Edwards (who would later voice Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio) may seem like a jazz age oddity at first blush, he was one of the era’s most innovative and jazz-forward pop vocalists and an early pioneer of scat singing.
There is a $35-45 music charge and a $20 food and beverage minimum. For reservations, please call (212) 581-3080 or visit BirdlandJazz.com.
Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street (between 8th and 9th Avenues) in Manhattan.
