Chuck Lamb Turns Phila Street Into an After-Hours Jazz Club Tonight at Caffè Lena
There's a particular magic to jazz played late, in a small room, by people who've clearly done this a thousand times and still can't wait to do it again. That's the whole premise of After Hours On Phila Street, the new EP from Saratoga pianist Chuck Lamb — and tonight, Aug 11 at 7pm, Lamb celebrates its release on the exact street the record is named for, at Caffè Lena.
Lamb isn't a visitor here. He hosts the monthly "Jazz at Caffè Lena" series, which means he's spent years turning a 110-seat folk coffeehouse into a legitimate jazz room one night a month. After Hours On Phila Street is his original acoustic jazz-fusion, and the guest list reads like a who's-who of players who trust him: Joel Rosenblatt, Scott Petito, Mike Tucker, vibraphonist Joe Locke, Mike DeMicco, Jorge Gomez, Ria Curley, and Joe Anderies. That's not a backing band; that's a summit.
Fair warning, and also a point of civic pride: the in-person show is sold out. A 110-seat room selling out for a local jazz pianist's EP release tells you something about both Lamb and the appetite this town has for the real thing. If you didn't get a ticket, Caffè Lena has you covered — the night will be available via stream, so you can pull up a chair wherever you are.
Why does a local EP release warrant this much ink? Because this is what a healthy scene actually looks like from the inside. Not just the touring acts passing through SPAC and The Egg, but the players who live here, book here, mentor here, and make records named after the block their venue sits on. Lamb naming the EP After Hours On Phila Street isn't a marketing move; it's an address. It's him planting a flag on 47 Phila Street and saying this room, this street, this town is worth a record.
One housekeeping note for the completists: the exact digital release date couldn't be confirmed at publication time. But the celebration is tonight, the room is full, and the stream is open.
Longest continuously operating folk venue in the country, and it still makes space for a local jazz cat to throw himself a party. That's Caffè Lena. That's the whole idea.
Sources: WEXT Radio — Chuck Lamb Takes Saratoga Jazz After Hours at Caffè Lena; Caffè Lena