By Andrew Poretz***The Dan Pugach Big Band, along with Pugach’s wife, jazz singer-composer and Grammy Award-winner, Nicole Zuraitis, performed at Drom recently in celebration of Bianca Reimagined, drummer Pugach’s new album of all-
original material *which includes three “bonus tracks” composed with or by Zuraitis). About half the show was comprised solely of instrumentals, while Zuraitis sang on all songs in the second half, all arranged by Pugach, The evening was also a fundraiser for Pound Hound Rescue, a dog-rescue nonprofit the couple is quite passionate about.
Drom is a unique venue located on Avenue A in the “Alphabet City” section of lower Manhattan. The 15-year-old basement club is “hidden in plain sight” beneath Kim’s Video. It’s easy to miss—the only obvious sign hangs under the store and doesn’t even look like a word unless you stare at it long enough. Only a line of mostly non-young, non-hipsters waiting to go down the stairs clued this writer that Drom might be there.
Inside the unprepossessing entrance is a a wonderful surprise, seemingly like Dr. Who’s “Tardis”—much larger on the inside than you’d imagine. A large bar area leads to a well-designed, simultaneously modern/retro interior. The sizeable stage in the far corner has an odd angularity to it. 
There’s no stage entrance or obvious way for a performer to get to the stage. Nonetheless, the 18 musicians of the Dan Pugach Big Band managed to cram onto it. Best though, the sound is exceptional, with great clarity and fidelity everywhere, and not too loud, even sitting five feet from the stage.
Though your correspondent has seen Pugach back up Zuraitis on several occasions, they were sans his big band. The set included much of the album, but also older material such as the robust opener “Brooklyn Blues,” with all five front-line saxes (with a typical lineup of alternating pairs of alto and tenor with a bass sax) playing mainly in unison. The wild trumpet solo was intentionally at odds with the saxes, creating an interesting tension.
“Dissolve This” made for a mellower second number, a mesmerizing journey led by one of the trumpets in the first section. An alto player took it to a late-night, sexy vibe with some great licks and a hot solo. The complex bass line played together with 
piano while Pugach let loose with a rather challenging rhythm. He is quite a gifted drummer who never overpowers his band or showboat. Another highlight, “Tolerance,” with its Middle Eastern flavor, offered a confluence of influences. (Or as Pugach wrote in his press notes, “it is made of two main themes, an active folk-like melody… and a more relaxed melody on top of a piano ostinato… which morph in and out of each other as the final soloist pushes through the persisting brass clusters… towards triumph.”) “Bianca,” the title track, is one of two pieces from the album dedicated to now-deceased rescue dogs the couple cared for. Asweet soprano sax solo stood in sharp contrast to a tenor solo shortly thereafter that seemed to represent two different stages of a dog’s life.
Zuraitis, climbing over a chair to get to the stage, launched into “Travel” (from her How Love Begins album), based on an Edna St. Vincey Millay poem as a trio piece, with vocalese. Zuraitis has a multi-octave range and spectacular tone. Her voice is truly an instrument that lends itself perfectly to economical scat and vocalese. In “Bella the Bear,” written about another beloved rescue dog, who had recently passed, Zuraitis matched the band note-for-note with vocalese. (the Grammy nomination for this cut helped the couple when an existential crisis nearly made them quite the business). 
Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” was delivered with a slow, ethereal arrangement, which turned the song entirely on its head, making it nearly unrecognizable until the familiar refrain. Zuraitis ‘approach was akin to Joni Mitchell than Parton. as Pugach’s pulsating rhythm led the piece.The set ended with an unlikely big-band arrangement of Van Halen’s “Dreams,” which featured some serious shredding by guitarist Pete McMann. This was an excellent set by the Dan Pugach Band and Nicole Zuraitis. Bianca Revisited is a stellar album that this reviewer heartily recommends.
Top two photos by Phil Caracci
Photo of Bella by Pugach/Zuraitis
Bottom photo by Andrew Poretz
