The Ghost of Gigs Past

Fun gigs ... in no particular order

6/28/07  Pete Levin Band at The Langston Hughes House, New York, NY - a JVC Jazz Festival special event.   This was an up close & personal gig in the former townhouse residence of Harlem Renaissance writer Langston Hughes, performing where the writer turned out some of his most celebrated work.

Speaking of celebration, I did the gig on my new Nord C-1 organ, running through my vintage 122 Leslie.  Not only is it a fantastic-sounding axe, but at 33 pounds it weighs 1/7th as much as my chopped Hammond B-3.  I'm happy, and my back is happy!  Nord has me on their website as a new artist.

Uncle Funk at New World Home Cooking   Saugerties, NY    New Year's Eve 2007
Tony Levin & Joe Beesmer	Jerry Marotta
Jesse Gress	Carlos Valdez
New World chef/owner Ric Orlando sittin' in
Joe & Tina	Pete
Woodstock knows how to party!

Saturday 7/21/07    Heading out for a 2-day mini-tour with Blues Guitarist Kal David - Black Eyed Sally's in Hartford, CT, then down to Atlanta, Georgia for the DeKalb Blues Festival.  Other than my loving the way Kal plays (and sings) and that I always look forward to the times I get to play with him. The show at Sally's was packed with an enthusiastic crowd, many of the being folks long-standing fans from Kal's band "The Fabulous Rhinestones."  We rocked the joint! Then, back to band-on-the-road reality.  Loaded up after the show - about 2:30am - we headed out for a 2-hour drive to Stewart Airport in Newburgh, NY for a 6am flight to Atlanta for our next gig.  Zero sleep.  Why do we do it?  Beats me! Black-eyed Sally's in Hartford, CT    Great blues club - great food! That's the Petemobile on the left, with the Hammond in the back. Lori Bono & Kal Mike Nappi Kal - in the audience

10/31/07  Halloween!  Played an afternoon concert in Kingston, NY at the Golden Hill nursing home with jazz vocalist/violinst Betty MacDonald and my brother Tony.  Packed house - most folks in costume.  We had a ball!

Tony, Pete, Betty. (Tony & Pete with hair!  Betty with ... a thing.)

Special guests:  Mom, Mom's friend Betty, & Tony's mother in law Phyllis

Partying down!  The lady in the photo just turned 100 last week.  Wow!

8/25/07  Auburn, NY.  Bassist Peter Mack assembled a great sextet and staged a concert doing some great, mainstream arrangements.  Three of us came up from the Woodstock 'hood - sax player David CasTiglione, drummer Harvey Sorgen and me.  There was a beautiful Steinway waiting for me there.  (No shlepping!)  Two great players joined David in the front line;  Chris Persad on trumpet, and Joe Carello on alto and bari saxes. 

The Auburn Public Theater	Here's one way to get into the photo
Joe Carello, Harvey Sorgen, Peter Mack, Chris Persad, Pete, David Castiglione

2/25/07  On the road (sort of) with the Retro Rockets.

We played a couple of motorcycle convention shows over the last couple of weeks - another one coming up.  These shows are always a ball for us;  The playing, and wandering around looking at the incredible custom bikes close up.

Poughkeepsie, NY   That's our stage way in the background
Pete "Tall" Paul Verdon Jimmy Eppard Charlie Kniceley
Pete pinned to the boards by Gary (festival promoter) and George "Commander Cody" Frayne

Home, after the Scranton, PA show, the Rockets played at a benefit for local Rosendale musicians Moose Dmoch and Rebekah Lowden, whose home and instruments had been lost in a fire.  No shots of the Rockets, but I also played in an impromptu jam with Joe Beesmer and Uncle Funk.  Gov't Mule's Danny Louis was there to do a set with Machan Taylor, so we got to do some two-keyboard groovilatin'.

5/12/07  Making music takes me to the greatest places.  Two gigs in the same week had me high above, uh ... everything!  Wednesday the 9th I played with Jana Herzen and Roni Ben Hur in the Rainbow Room, a beautiful restaurant on the top floor of New York City's Rockefeller Plaza.  Two days later I played with the Bob Nieske Quartet, featuring vocalist Maggie Galloway at Top Of The Hub, a restaurant on the top floor of Boston's Prudential Center.  Check out the views from windows next to the piano; Makes it hard to concentrate!

New York City from the Rainbow Room  (Central Park on the left)
Boston from Top Of The Hub
The bandstand	Maggie Galloway

09/09/06  Back to one of my favorite intimate clubs, The Turning Point in Piermont, NY.  The Nikki Armstrong Band tore it up for two sets.  In addition to singing great, Nikki is one of the hardest working divas on stage I know.  She's a treat to work with.

Nikki & owner John McAvoy

08/25/06  Union Square Park, NYC - free concert sponsored by Artists For Human Rights

Back in NYC!  I was part of a quartet that backed up a whole lineup of great singers to a big crowd.  This was a great concert.  Singer Nikki Armstrong put the band together for them and did two songs with us herself.  Intermittent rain couldn't dampen the prevailing spirit.  There were great photo ops, but I didn't do too well.  With only one brief rehearsal, I couldn't look up from the keyboard book too often.  And once again ... no pictures of me.  Wah!

Actress Anne Archer, the organization's founder and spokesperson, greets the crowd.  This not-very-flattering shot is the best one I got of her.  Sorry, Anne; I was working.
MD David Campbell and drummer Terry Silverlight check the show lineup.
Guitarist Jason Green, Drummer Terry Silverlight, Bassist Ivan Bodley
My only chance to leave the stage, I got this shot of the gospel choir that tore the place up!

09/16/06  Saturday night at Jack & Luna's Cafe in Stone Ridge, NY.  An intimate little spot with an excellent soup/salad/sandwich menu, on Saturday night they have live Jazz.  Drummer & co-owner Chris Bowman even put in a nice 5 foot Kawai grand piano.  How cool is that.  Featured this week was Woodstock Violinist/Vocalist Betty MacDonald, working her magic backed by a nice quartet.  I had people in the audience pass my camera around and take shots.  I set the camera to use available light, without flash - clearly a mistake.  Next time I'll know.

Guitarist Perry Beekman, Bassist Charlie Kniceley, Betty MacDonald, drummer Chris Bowman, Pete

09/17/06  The Retro Rocket at the Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, NY.  The Rockets Rock!  But we don't play anything after we've played the Pennsylvania Polka.  (Don't ask.)

Pete, Jimmy Eppard, "Tall" Paul Verdon, Charlie Kniceley
	A fan

09/13/06  Spent two days at the Pepsi Theater at SUNY in Purchase, playing in a band led by guitarist Lou Volpe.  We were the backup band for an eclectic group of performers in a high end, high tech show sponsored by Pepsi.  There was one moment that was a new experience for me;  A 4-piece metal band did a tune (without us).  When they started up, the EFX crew triggered a smoke machine.  Nobody had really tested the machine out, and the smoke got excessive, setting off all the alarm systems in the theater.  The strobe lights on the alarm system actually looked like part of the show.  But when the band stopped, the police were already there and demanded the theater be evacuated.  So we had a 2nd, unscheduled intermission.  Gotta love it!

12/29  It's been years since the Brubeck Brothers Quartet kicked off the Thursday night Jazz series at Szechuan Tokyo in West Hartford, Connecticut.  It's still going strong and continues to be one of my favorite intimate venues to play.  This time I was back with an organ trio, along with guitar master Joe Beck and drummer Gene Randolph.  Joe you already know - what with reviewers throwing around terms like "legendary" and "genius".  Connecticut Jazz fans might not be familiar with Gene, but he's widely regarded as one of the best Jazz drummers in the Hudson Valley.  Gene is the groovemeister!

On Sunday, February 5th, Jimmy Eppard and The Retro Rockets head off to Wilkes Barre, PA to do a show at the Winter Blast Motorcycle Expo, opening for Commander Cody.  These shows are a blast.  There are hundreds of custom motorcycles that you hardly ever get to see up close.  The only down side of this one is that we hit at 10:30am - which means we have to be on the road at 7am.  Yikes!  If you're in the area, it's at the Gennetti Hotel on East Market Street.

On February 14th, I'll be playing in New York with Angela Deniro and the Ron Aprea big band.  This is a benefit concert for Frank Foster to help with his mounting medical expenses.  Great band with some great players, and we'll be doing a lot of Frank's arrangements.  As of now, I don't know what the donation/admission cost is, but it'll be lot's of good music for a good cause.  Please try to make it if you can.

8pm on Tuesday, February 14th
at the John Birks Gillespie Auditorium
Baha'i Center:  53 East 11th Street, NYC

1/26 at J. C. Hooks in Waterbury, CT with guitarist/vocalist Kal David and singer Lauri Bono.  Kal had some hits years back with his group "The Fabulous Rhinestones" but has been pretty much dedicated to the Blues since then - and he does that really well.  He's high up on my list of favorite guitarists, so this gig was a treat for me.  We did it as an organ trio, with Connecticut drummer Mike Nappi kickin' our butts.  I don't get to do that on a Blues gig very often, so it's a heads-up situation - and lay off the bourbon until the end of the night!  Hooks is a small, comfortable club with real nice folks running the store.  We did a 3 hour set to an enthusiastic packed house, and I had a blast.  Hopefully I'll get to do more of these when Kal comes to the Northeast.

11/13  A concert for the Pro Music series at the 1st Congregational Church in Saugerties with Betty MacDonald, Woodstock's own Gypsy Queen.  This was a treat for me.  Betty's gigs always have a magical quality, but after weeks of smokin', loud, high energy gigs, it was great for me to play a laid back set like this one.  No drummer ... wow!  Sunday was my first time playing with John Menegon, a terrific Woodstock Area bass player.  And Beck is always killin'.  Beck.  Joe is one of the keys to the CD I'm getting ready to release.  (See below.)

8/13-14  I spent Saturday and Sunday in Lee, Massachusetts for two concerts with operatic soprano Jennifer Aylmer.  I backed her doing some Gershwin and Cole Porter along with bass & drums, but I was honestly more interested in the stuff I wasn't playing on - like the Villa-Lobos Bachianas Brazilieros #5 for 8 cellos and soprano, a beautiful piece that's rarely performed.  Jennifer's an amazing singer, a captivating performer and a pleasure to work with.  I wasn't surprised to learn she's debuting at The Met this season.  That's Jennifer and I on the left.  On the right, Jennifer accompanied by Kathleen Kelly, a killin' piano player, who - when she's not enjoying the Lee, Mass. night life - is an assistant conductor and coach at The Met.

(Just kidding about the night life.  Saturday night in Lee, they roll up the sidewalks at 10pm.   I'm sorry, but that's barbaric.  People sometimes get hungry at 10:30!  Nice place to visit, but more than 24 hours ... you can keep it.)

11/29  Back at the Mason Jar in Mahwah, New Jersey.  This is the trio led by drummer Don Gardner, with John Cariddi on guitar that I do every other month or so.  This time we were joined by former Miles Davis band member, saxophonist Sam Morrison.  Sam's playing is electric!  He's sat in with us there a couple of times, but this is the first time he's officially done the gig.  An enthusiastic crowd braved a torrential downpour - much appreciated.  I could describe the challenge of getting my Hammond back in the truck in the rain ... but why go there?  The photos are by our friend Pahaka September, who's been documenting every Tuesday night band at The Jar for a couple of years now.

Sam Morrison, John Cariddi, Don Gardner, Pete

Woodstock Blues Festival - Memorial Day Weekend
I was fortunate to be doing hits with three separate bands this year - and sitting in with a 4th.  Whew!  On Friday night, the 28th, Mike DeMicco reconvened the organ trio we do with Woodstock drummer Peter O'Brien.  We did two slammin' sets at the Landau Grill to an enthusiastic crowd, with saxophonist, Miles Davis alumnus Sam Morrison sitting in.

Then on Saturday afternoon on the Woodstock Village Green, I did the opening set with guitarist Chris Zaloom and the band.  Next I sat in with Rennie Cantine's band, and finally wrapped up the afternoon with Joe Beesmer and Uncle Funk.  Then came the tough part of the day - a hectic 2 hour drive to Norwalk, Connecticut to join Richie Hart and the band at the Silvermine Tavern.  Hours of great music for me, though.  I wish there was a way I could get a count on how many notes I played between noon and midnight.  I can tell you that by late afternoon I was clean out of solo ideas for the Blues.

On Stage (or rather, On Flatbed) with the Chris Zaloom Band.
Chris, Billy Reed, Alicia, Jack
Joe Beesmer & Uncle Funk.  On the right, that's Jesse Gress, Bruce Wohfeil & Joe.
Drivin' the train ... Randy Ciarlante	My friend Pahaka September came up from New Jersey for the day with hubby August - who took this shot and several others here.
Billy Reed sat in with Uncle Funk to wind up the set. He usually does vocals from the drum kit.  It's rare to see him up front like this.
The rain held off, and it turned into a great day to hang out on The Green.

The Mason Jar in Mahwah, NJ.  I do this organ trio periodically for drummer Don Gardner, along with John Cariddi on guitar, but this one was unusual.  Don had another obligation and our old buddy, New York studio legend Jimmie Young covered on drums.  Lew Soloff on trumpet made it a quartet.  As a nice surprise, Sam Morrison stopped in on his way home from New York and sat in on sax.  We had a ball!

Back at the Rosendale Cafe with Charlie Kniceley - this time with the quartet fronted by the innovative Jazz French Hornist, John Clark.  John and I go way back;  I've been in his band, he's been in mine, and we recorded and toured together for years with the Gil Evans orchestra.   After all these years, John's technique and musical approach to the French Horn remains totally unique - he does stuff on the instrument that nobody else does.  The Rosendale Cafe was a great setting for this band.  Groove provided by drummer Gene Randolph, one of the Ulster Valley's hidden treasures.

Charlie Kniceley, Gene Randolph, Pete

Vocalist Nikki Armstrong occasionally flexes her wings a bit and touches more on Jazz stylings.  Finally making it official, she brought a band into Trumpets, a wonderful, intimate club in Montclair, NJ.  The band featured Gil Parris (guitar) and Rob Chaseman (sax).  An extra bonus for me ... I got to walk into a club and play the grand piano!  Not that the gig wasn't musically memorable, but I tend to look back warmly on gigs where I get to play a good instrument that I don't have to shovel into the back of my truck.  (Old and cranky and proud of it!)  Anyway, I love working with Nikki, and it was great to be in a classy venue with her.

I filled in for Dan McKinney on a couple of gigs with the Jim Weider Band.  Jim, if you don't know him, took over for Robbie Robertson in The Band a while back.  Now doing his own band, he's a treat to listen to.  The sound he gets from his guitar is amazing.  The band as usual was anchored by one of my favorite drummers, Randy Ciarlante, who also does lead vocals for the band.  Add Big Mike Kemp on bass and it gets totally rock solid.  This is the shit, babe!  I love it.  Also, Jim had his regular guest guitarist, Sid McGinnis.  As if this needed to somehow get better for me, the Friday night gig was at Black Eyed Sally's in Hartford, CT - long since my favorite BBQ joint in Connecticut.  'Pork fat rules!' 

Periodically, Blues guitarist/vocalist Danny Draher comes to New York from Chicago.  One of the hits this trip was at Joyous Lake in Woodstock, in organ trio format.  I'm always up for that, but I usually do it in a Jazz setting.  This was down and dirty Blues, and no doubt about it!  Danny's a great player and a ball to work with - but making the evening even more special was having Mike Clark on drums.

Friday 12/31

New Year's Eve with my favorite Woodstock Band at my favorite Woodstock club with my Hammond already on stage and my favorite bourbon at the bar ... works for me!

UNCLE FUNK at Joyous Lake New Year's Eve 2004 Jesse Gress, Joe Beesmer, Randy Ciarlante, Mike Kemp, Pete Levin

  
10/2/04

Uncle Funk returned to a packed house at the Keegan Ales Brewery in Kingston to celebrate their 1 year anniversary.  The crowd indulged in the music and all the Keegan Ale they could drink!  Uncle Funk was led as always by Joe Beesmer with Jesse Gress on lead guitar, Jerry Marotta and my brother Tony in the rhythm section, and me doing the fingerpainting.  Co-billed with U.F. was the Jim Weider Band featuring Randy Ciarlante on drums and vocals and Sid McGinnis on guitar.  There on the left, that's me, Tony and Sid hanging backstage.  (Years back, we used to go to the Metropolitan Opera!)  For those of you out of the area, Keegan's is a local microbrewery that makes 3 killin' beers.  Without the preservatives the Keegan  brews don't travel well and they don't keep for long.  If you're not beer-aware, that's the stuff that's as good as it gets.  Tony's Pizza & Keegan Ales ... Move to Kingston!

By the way, these photos were taken by my friend Ed Ajaj.  All us hobbyists are toting digital Kodaks these days, but Ed is the real deal.  One of his specialties is live shots of musicians, and he's very good at it!  Check out his website at edwardajajfotografie.com  Lots of great shots of Yes, Ringo, etc.  Ed has more U.F. shots coming.  (I still can't believe we got him to shlep up from New Jersey for this one!)

We finished the night with the inevitable, dreaded jam session that got almost everybody back on stage. In addition to lots of guitar players, veteran keyboardist Larry Fast - who just came to catch the show - joined us on stage.  OK students, here's a bit of history:  At one time, Tony, Sid, Larry & Jerry made up Peter Gabriel's touring band.  After the show they posed for this shot with me standing in for P.G.  Later, Tony substituted Peter's head in Photoshop.  Hey, you can hardly tell! (Except that Peter probably isn't an Islanders fan.)