South Street Seaport
11 June 2008, 1900
Ed Palermo is the saxophonist leader of a jazz ensemble and an avid Frank Zappa fan; as in the electric guitar guru, composer, 70's icon, musician extraordinaire, and the father of four children: Moon Unit, Dweezil, Ahmet Emuukha Rodan and Diva Thin Muffin Pigeen.
What are the eclectically named children of Frank Zappa doing these days, you ask? Moon Zappa is an artist and author of, "America the Beautiful." Dweezil is following in dad's footsteps and has released a number of albums with Nuno Duarte Gil Mendes Bettencourt, the guitarist from Extreme. Ahmet has delved into quite a few career paths, but the most recent is as the author of the children's book, "The Monstrous Memoirs of a Mighty McFearless." Diva is the founder of "Hand Made Beauty," a company that sells hand-knitted items and donates a portion of the proceeds to the Watoto Fund.
Anyway, back to Ed. His band is most well known for playing entire Zappa albums during their shows. They have even put out a couple discs of Zappa covers; the most recent is "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance." The concert they gave on Wednesday was at South Street Seaport and was organized by WBGO Jazz 88 radio and the Seaport Music Festival, which is presented by the River to River Festival. Catching a concert at the seaport is fantastic on a nice night. Sitting on the planks of the pier, watching the tourists saunter by, enjoying a cold beer outside, and being flanked by the water on one side and the monstrous buildings of the Financial District on the other. It is a strange, albeit wonderful, juxtaposition.
The band is: Ed Palermo (arranger, alto saxophone, guitar); Cliff Lyons (alto saxophone, flute, clarinet); Ben Kono (flute, clarinet, tenor saxophone); Bill Straub (flute, tenor saxophone); Barbara Cifelli (piccolo, flute, baritone saxophones, clarinet); Phil Chester (piccolo, flute, soprano & alto saxophones); Ronnie Buttacavoli & John Hines (trumpet); Charlie Gordon & Joe Fiedler (trombone); Matt Ingman (bass trombone); Bob Quaranta (piano); Ted Kooshian (harpsichord, organ, synthesizer); Paul Adamy (electric bass); Ray Marchica (drums); Carl Restivo (guitar & vocals); John Tabacco (vocals); Bruce McDaniel (vocals & guitar). No, I wasn't that observant or diligent in my note-taking. I stole all of that information directly from Ed Palermo Big Band's website.
Jazz in the summertime makes me endlessly happy.
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