PHOTOS: SCOTT MYERS | After a cheeky introduction by Snug Harbor’s Jason Paterson who has known three of the band members since they were young men, John Ellis & Double-Wide nonchalantly got down to the business of playing his wry original jazz music. The five musicians, Ellis on tenor and soprano saxes, Matt Perrine on sousaphone, Jason Marsalis on drums, Alan Ferber on trombone, and Gary Versace on organ, melodica, and piano, opened with a slyly subversive take on “Booker,” Ellis’ homage to the great and tragic pianist James Booker.
The song is taut on the new recording, Charm, which features the same musicians who appeared at Snug Harbor. Live, the group of versatile players stretched the tune and warmed up their chops. After Ellis tackled its inventive structure with a strong solo on tenor, Ferber displayed his strong technique and pristine tone with a powerful, pulsing turn of his own.
Ferber and Versace accompanied Ellis from New York where all three players are in demand in a variety of settings. Marsalis and Perrine are mainstays of the New Orleans scene. Each brought a strong sense of personality and individuality to the compositions, which are all from the pen of Ellis.
Following a strong version of “High and Mighty,” also off the new album, Ellis took the microphone and began a long introduction of the band and the music. He praised each of the players and expounded on the depth of their musical and personal connections. About half way through, Perrine set down his sousaphone prompting Ellis to comment about the huge instrument’s weight and the length of his rambling summary of the band’s history promising he would shut up and play for the rest of the hour and half set. This elicited a chuckle from the crowd, which was clearly captivated by the ensemble from the get-go. Ellis noted the audience’s enthusiasm more than once, calling us a Saturday night crowd on a Thursday evening.
During his intro of Ferber, Ellis told a tale to illustrate how long they have worked together. In their youth they performed as a duo, a sax and trombone duo at that. He got a few more laughs when he explained they were playing Christmas music at the Bloomingdale’s department store in the middle of New York City.
The music Ellis writes for Double-Wide, much of which was composed on a three-month writer’s retreat in California, is largely tailored to these musicians. Some of the tunes have a cartoon soundtrack-like feeling and evoke humor with a push and pull among the instruments. Having a visual image in mind goes a long way towards inviting the audience into this captivating world.
Before “Horse Won’t Trot,” Ellis explained the tune’s origins telling the crowd to picture a quintessential, if stereotypical, old west scene with swinging saloon doors and a lone cactus that revolves and reappears in the background of a one-dimensional set. Marsalis then kicked off the song with off kilter knocks on his kit as if conjuring a three-legged equine. Smiles and titters erupted in the cozy confines of the club both on the bandstand and in the audience.
Versace demonstrated his deep connection to the songs by mostly playing an important role—providing texture to the sound as he occasionally peered over his pulsing B-3 organ. The keening, high-pitched notes of the melodica added flavor to a couple of tunes, and a brief turn on the grand piano brought a smidgen of classical eloquence to the proceedings.
Throughout the set, Marsalis and Perrine were locked in, communicating telepathically while barely looking at each other. Marsalis occasionally cracked a knowing smile while working his kit like a marimba. Perrine smiled with his eyes as his sousaphone bubbled and burbled. Though Ellis and Ferber took the majority of the solos with formidable individuated work, the three other musicians were robust as well when their turns in the spotlight came around.
Snug Harbor is known for timely sets in a city not known for punctuality. The band was ten minutes late in starting, perhaps given a need to rekindle their long relationships across two time zones, so when the appointed time for the show’s conclusion arrived, it seemed we might get musically shortchanged. I surreptitiously glanced at my watch and noted they had two minutes left. All I expected was a brief coda and outro as the second set was a mere half-hour away.
Much to my delight, and the rest of the attentive audience as well, they dug deep on “Break Song,” bringing the performance to a fitting end with strong solos all around at an almost leisurely pace. Ellis clearly loves to play in New Orleans, the city is where he was formed as a musician, as Paterson noted in his introduction, and his infectious delight was the backbone of a great performance by a singular ensemble. As they say, only in New Orleans.
