Jazz Underground Makes Three Sheets Swing

With a quick group decision, the horn section leapt into Sonny Rollins’s ​“Tenor Madness,” the rhythm section hot on its heels. They swung hard, and the crowd responded in kind, giving the band all the attention it needed. Even when they were talking in the back, they were talking about the music.

Technically speaking, this was a session hosted by saxophonist Anthony Pellegrini and his group — Malin Carta on vocals, Joe Conticello on piano, Niles Spaulding on bass, and Avery Collins on drums. But so many young musicians showed up to play, from guitarists to vibrophonists to baritone sax players to drummers, bassists, and piano players, and so many musicians swapped in and out, that halfway through the session there wasn’t a band anymore so much as a vibe, full of drive and heart.

Tuesday evening marked the latest installment at Three Sheets on Elm Street of the New Haven Jazz Underground series, started by trumpet player and bandleader Nick Di Maria. Beaming, he said that this was the biggest one yet.

“Thank you for coming,” he told the crowd through the microphone. ​“This is the future.” He explained that sessions would continue on the first and third Tuesdays of every month. ​“Let’s play,” he said. And without further adieu, the assembled musicians did.

Di Maria said that New Haven Jazz Underground was intended to raise the presence of jazz ​“at the street level. That’s the only way it’s going to work.” By that he meant building not only a stronger audience for jazz, but stronger bonds among jazz musicians. ​“It’s not a young versus old thing — it’s just a question of being involved,” he said. ​“We’re creating a community here.”

Part of that community creation involves developing a way to pay the musicians Di Maria lines up ​“what they deserve” to host the sessions. He has created a Patreon campaign with that in mind. Inspired by (most recently) the Bernie Sanders campaign and other like it that have relied on drawing from a large pool of small donors, rather than a small pool of large donors, Di Maria allows patrons to support the Jazz Underground for $2 a month (“I bet some students pay that in ATM fees every month,” he said. Touché, Di Maria). Higher tiers allow for monthly support of $5, $10, and $20, with the option to host a session if the patron wants.

But another part of it lies simply in being welcoming. ​“Most of the players know each other in some way,” Di Maria said of the jazz scene around the state. ​“On the regular we have 15 to 20 people showing up.” But so far, it’s not hard to keep things fresh. ​“I rotate host bands so everyone feels a sense of participation.” More important, he encourages players to try their hand. ​“If you show up a bunch, you get to play. Showcase what you got.” For younger players, playing in a jam session is a way to hone skills the classroom can’t always teach: how to run a band, and how to be a leader.

Di Maria is also looking to expand the reach of the series by combining sets with other genres of music — say, a jazz band with a folk band, or a jazz band with a rock band. ​“It doesn’t have to be bound by genre,” he said.

As the session got deeper and looser, the musicians kept swapping out to keep the band size right and give everyone multiple chances to play. Solos were handed off with ease, until players passed around phrases, parts of phrases, parts of measures, enriching the music’s texture. When the players returned to the melody to take the tune out, they did it with energy and grit, always receiving applause from listeners in the room with them and from the bar in the room next door, where patrons lingered later than they might to hear another tune. Di Maria reported that Three Sheets has been supportive of the idea from the beginning, so two months in, the New Haven Jazz Underground may well have found its home.

“I believe in the local scene. I believe in New Haven,” Di Maria said. ​“I believe that everyone out tonight is a member of the underground, whether they know it or not.”

The next New Haven Jazz Underground session at Three Sheets, 372 Elm St., will be on April 16, hosted by Alec Rice. For further information, visit the Jazz Underground’s Facebook page. Visit the Jazz Underground Patreon page for information on how to sponsor the series.