New York Moment - Compact Disc
New York Moment, which is about the New York City lifestyle, its challenges, and the great moments when everything works out perfectly, features J.C. Hopkins’ originals and the arrangements of tenor-saxophonist Drew Vandewinkle for the spirited group.
Featured in key spots are five singers. Nico Sarbanes, who is also an excellent trumpeter, is in the spotlight on the uptempo “We Can Change The World” and “Lulu” (taking a particularly memorable trumpet solo on the latter), and sharing the vocals with Joy Hanson in winning style on the love song “Beguiled” and “What Would You Say.” Ms. Hanson is also heard on the quietly sensuous “The Wonderful Things To Come” and the ballad “Close Your Eyes.”
Vanisha Gould adds to the New Orleans party atmosphere of “One Of Those Days” with her jubilant singing and puts plenty of honest emotion into “Sublime Beauty.” Shawn Whitehorn uplifts the medium-tempo love song “Oh, Kitty” while Alicyn Yaffee excels on the lowdown blues “The Children Will Lead Us.”
The Biggish Band also has its opportunities to be featured throughout the diverse material with an instrumental version of Charles Mingus’ “Better Git It In Your Soul” having some joyfully wild ensembles and passionate playing by altoist Julian Pressley.
Early in his wide-ranging career, J.C. Hopkins was a pianist, guitarist, harmonica player and folk singer. He led the folk/rock group Flophouse in San Francisco in the late 1990s, wrote a jazz musical (Show Biz’ness) that debuted in 1998, moved to Brooklyn in 2000, and soon formed JC Hopkins Biggish Band. His singer in the early days was the then-unknown Norah Jones. After her great success, she was succeeded by Madeleine Peyroux and Queen Esther.
Hopkins, whose song “Dreams Come True” was recorded as a duet by Willie Nelson and Norah Jones, recorded his first album with his band, Underneath A Brooklyn Moon, in 2005. 2017’s Meet Me At Minton’s (which has guest spots for Jon Hendricks, Andy Bey and Jazzmeia Horn) celebrates the Biggish Band’s long-time Saturday night residency at Minton’s Playhouse, the historic club where early 1940s jam sessions featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and others helped form bebop. Hopkins is also Minton’s long-time music programmer.
New York Moment is the J.C. Hopkins Biggish Band’s finest recording to date and shows just how much the music is swinging at Minton’s Playhouse in the 21st century.