Karen Ponzio Photos
Click Tracks in the groove.
The buttery warmth of the baritone saxophone, the silky strum of the upright bass, and the percussive pops and slick slides of tap shoes: all three came together in musical conversation with one another at Best Video this past Friday night as the band Click Tracks took to the performance space’s indoor stage. A rain burst dashed hopes of an outdoor show, but did not impede the exuberant and energetic fusion of a multitude of music forms in the night ahead.
Click Tracks — a new trio of dancer/musician Alexis Robbins and musicians Eneji Alungbe and James Berlyn — have played together at various jams throughout Connecticut over the years, but the Whitney Avenue performance space was the setting for their first official gig as a band. According to the band’s description on the Facebook event page for the evening, Click Tracks combined “three artists from different backgrounds bringing unique takes on jazz standards from Bebop, Blues, Latin Jazz, and more.”
Under the dimmed spotlights and framed by a red velvet curtain, the band was introduced by executive director Julie Smith, with many curious to see how tap dancing would become part of the music. Once Berlyn counted in the others and the first song began, that curiosity was answered. With a shift from heel to toe, from inner to outer sole, even a slide from one edge of her board to the other, Robbins brought the beat to each song. Audience members were left amazed, some with mouths agape, at this form of musical creation. Many, of course, were familiar with Robbins’s work as she has been performing frequently in New Haven over the past few years both as a dancer and a musician as well as a choreographer and teacher. That didn’t stop one audience member from shouting “yes, go Alexis!” multiple times throughout the evening.
Robbins wasn’t the only one getting steady bursts of applause and cheers, as both Berlyn and Alungbe offered their own scintillating solos as well, each musician giving the other the space to amp up the vibe while also coming together in kinship, putting their own unique stamp on a wealth of jazz classics.
Throughout the evening the three could at times all be seen with their eyes closed, in the groove of their own instrument and in sync with one another. Berlyn dipped slow and low with his sax while Alungbe coxed and caressed the strings of the bass to meet him there, leading Robbins to use every inch of her sole to dig deep into her own soul as all three met in the melodies. That music for the first half of the set included such classics as John Coltrane’s “Equinox” and “Ceora” by Lee Morgan, which saw the band getting a little more funky and the audience responding with more than a few head bops and chair dancing. Everyone, including the band, was just flat out having fun.
Robbins brings the beat.
The band took a short break after that first half of the set for the members to introduce themselves and let the audience know it was their first show ever.
“You’re a part of history now,” added Alungbe with a huge smile.
Someone asked how they got together, and they each spoke of how they had played other gigs and wanted to all play together on the regular, meeting up from three different part of the state to be able to do that. Robbins added with a laugh that they would probably be spending any tip money they received on gas.
“I’d be here for free,” said Alungbe.
Another audience member asked if Robbins performing this way was unique to her.
“Tap is jazz,” she answered, and added that it was common in more cities but could be becoming even more common soon.
The band resumed the second half of their set with five more songs, including “Bemsha Swing,” which made this reporter wish she could have a spot and a partner on the dance floor. There was also the ballad “Ask Me Now” by Thelonious Monk, which saw the trio bring a slower and sexier vibe to the proceedings, Robbins creating a raindrop-like tapping at one point with her subtle but strong heel toe rocking. Their final song, the bebop standard “Donna Lee,” had many bopping along and garnered a standing ovation from several audience members once it was complete.
A few attendees stayed to talk to the band members, praising them and asking them more questions, including where they would be next. For those who weren’t quite sure beforehand how tap would track with jazz music, it seemed to have all clicked right in.
More information about Click Tracks future shows can be found on any of the band members’ social media pages.
