It seems to be getting more and more difficult each year to find clubs that play mainstream jazz, but drummer Charles Ruggiero keeps the hard bop candle lit with his monthly visitation at the Baked Potato. This evening, the event was called “Miles, Monk and Me” and teamed with Jeff Babko/keys, Ralph Moore/ts and Mike Gurrola/b, and the 75 minute set was comfort food for the ears.
Ruggiero threw in a couple new pieces that had the same vintage feel, with a simmering “Jelly Roll” featuring some soulful sounds from Babko under Moore’s Hank Mobley-toned tenor, while “The Moose and The Clock” was a clever little lurking piece tip toeing in the opening and close, surrounding easy swinging coaxed by Ruggiero’s skating sticks.
Thelonious Monk’s “Green Chimneys” had Moore in a smoky mood, puffing out the patterns over Ruggiero’s crisp groove, while the leader gave some verbal instructions to the band and then joked to the audience “That’s our rehearsal” before sizzling into a V8 engine charge of “Milestones” the dug into a rivulet of sound. Moore gave an aria rendition of “Ruby My Dear” under Ruggiero’s graceful brushes before the team supplied a supple “All of You” for a suave closing.
No fusion and no confusion was served up by Ruggiero ‘s entrees at The Baked Potato Wednesday night.
Upcoming shows at The Baked Potato include Bob Reynolds/Mark Lettieri 09/12-13, Don Randi 09/14-15, Ronnie Foster 09/20 and Robby Krieger 09/21-22