Brian Slattery Photo
Ceschi at the State House.
New Haven’s music scene this year welcomed newcomers and bade farewell to legends. It hosted musicians from all over the world who were just passing through and nurtured the talent born right here in the Elm City. Along the way, step by step and club by club, it fostered more of a sense of diversity and inclusiveness that made every live music experience just a little richer.
Here are the most memorable live performances we caught this year.
Ceschi At The State House
2019 was in many senses Ceschi’s year, as he released two full-length albums and toured the country and abroad in support of them. But the New Haven-based musician and record label head always made time to throw shows for his hometown. His through-the-roof energy live, the panoply of out-of-town guests he brought with him, and the ecstatic reaction from the dozens of local fans who turned out for every date made Ceschi’s shows the standouts of the year. Whether he played unplugged at Three Sheets or bought a band big enough to fill the stage of the State House, his shows exploded with celebration and catharsis every time.
The Jam At The State House
Over the past few years, musician Paul Bryant Hudson became a linchpin of New Haven’s R&B, soul, and funk scene, through his sharp songwriting, deft keyboard playing, superb singing, and positive community building. This year, all of that work culminated in an ongoing series called the Jam, which brought the city’s finest soul musicians together on the State House — along with some fresh brisket on the side — to once a month turn the State Street spot into the city’s hottest R&B club. As musicians swapped instruments, egged one another on, and collective created some serious groove, increasingly packed houses occupied the State House’s tables for hours to chat, enjoy a drink, or just revel in the vibe. There was no better proof of what scene could be created when musicians and music lovers came together.
Mandingo Ambassadors At Best Video
It was a well-kept secret that world-class Guinean guitarist Mamady Kouyaté lived in New Haven for years but never performed here, despite regular appearances in New York City. This year he changed that, assembling an ace band of New York- and New Haven-based musicians to offer a set of fiery guitar and hypnotic rhythms to a crowded house at Best Video, some of whom had walked to the Hamden venue and some of whom had driven a couple hours to hear Kouyaté play. At the end of the show, Kouyaté promised to hold another show, and did.
The Furors And Big Fat Combo At Cafe Nine
The Furors and Big Fat Combo are two of New Haven’s longest-running rock groups, and at Cafe Nine they showed why. The Furors rocked through some of the most well-loved songs from the duo’s now-extensive catalog, and Big Fat Combo showed, yet again, the infectious energy that can arise from consummate musical skill sprinkled with wry humor. The crowded house suggested that both bands might want to think about playing more often in 2020, but in 2019, the double bill was a gift from these musical veterans to their many stalwart fans.
Pentagram, Lord Fowl, and Bone Church At The State House
New Haven may not be as well-known for its hard rock/metal scene, but when such a show emerges from the primordial ooze, fans come out to hear it. The triple bill of Pentagram, Lord Fowl, and Bone Church merged three generations of hard rock fans into one very excited crowd, who proceeded to be pummeled by drums and have their faces melted by the musical onslaught from the State House stage — just like they wanted.
Puma Simone, Mooncha, and Radio Stevie At Cafe Nine
With just a microphone and a cell phone — and in one case, just a microphone and a table hauled up from the Cafe Nine floor to serve as a drum onstage — Puma Simone, Mooncha, and Radio Stevie gave their friends and fans a taste of what they were up to and showed how music can make everyone in the room feel like they belong. “Show me what community looks like,” Puma Simone said from the stage. “This is what community looks like,” everyone responded, and meant it.
New Haven Jazz Underground Session At Three Sheets
Last year musician and organizer Nick DiMaria put jazz all over New Haven under the umbrella of the New Haven Jazz Underground — perhaps nowhere more successfully than in his monthly jam sessions that for a few hours turned Three Sheets into one of the most fun and authentic-feeling jazz rooms this side of New Orleans. Hearkening back to New Haven’s own heyday as a regional jazz city, the NHJU’s jam sessions proved to also be a place for young jazz musicians to congregate and swap notes and ideas, packing the stage for a full evening while a crowd kept coming back to hear more.
RAM At State House
Since it opened its doors, the State House has made a point of bringing international acts to New Haven, and this year kept it up, from the dance party-family gathering that showed up for Peruvian chicha masters Los Mirlos to the audience that came out to see Les Filles de Illighadad from Niger. One show that came full circle was a set by RAM, from Haiti; it turns out that the songwriter and bandleader, improbably, grew up just outside of New Haven and had moved to Haiti decades ago, where he formed one of the grooviest, hardest-hitting bands New Haven has seen in a while. Some audience members stood in stunned silence. Others danced relentlessly, unwilling to leave until the band was done — perhaps the best way to welcome anyone back.
Voices of Change and Goat Herder At Three Sheets
The unplugged music series at Three Sheets is designed to give bands that don’t usually play acoustic a chance to give that format a shot, anticipating creative results. The series saw one of its greatest successes in Goat Herder, a band that usually plays plugged in, and loud. Goat Herder swapped amplifiers for hollow-body acoustics, and to keep its big sound, the band doubled its membership and switched up its drums, turning its hard-edged rock into a campfire holler. It was a band transformed, but no less effective at delivering its musical message.
The Drawbar At Cafe Nine
George Baker, who died in early December, had the early-career resume to make him a legend already: in the 1960s, he had played in the pit band at the Apollo Theater and toured with Marvin Gaye. But New Haveners knew Baker as a pillar of the music community here for decades; we also knew that his playing seemed to just get better and better. Baker kept up his gigging schedule even with a diagnosis of liver cancer in 2012, recording a scorching live album in 2015 at Cafe Nine. But this year gave a lot of people a chance to see him for the last time, whether it was at the library, or at Christopher Martin’s — or on the stage at Cafe Nine, where for an evening he fronted a trio with organ and drums and proceeded, as he always did, to play music that was lyrical and gritty, deeply rhythmic and melodically poetic. He was a musician who made the city better with every note he played, and will be missed, always.
To hear a full discussion between arts editor Brian Slattery and reporter Karen Ponzio about the year in New Haven’s live music scene, on a recent episode of WNHH-LP’s “Northern Remedy,” click on the file below.
