Steppin' Out: FRANK VIGNOLA'S "GUITAR NIGHT" at BIRDLAND
There is so much great music still being made nocturnally in NYC. I fell into Birdland recently for one hell of a moonstruck gig: the inimitable Frank Vignola’s Wednesday “Guitar Night.” I was knocked out by the musicianship on display, though hardly surprised. I’ve known Frank and his sublime virtuosity since we were both veritable kids. It was a kick to see him again, deftly working his frets. From lyrical to stinging, as a soloist or thrumming rhythm guitarist, Frank Vignola is an electrifying player.
The tunes he tackled were a “Standards” grab-bag: “Cheek to Cheek,” “Sweet Lorraine,” “Undecided,” “Willow Weep for Me,” “It Had to Be You,” mostly at high-steppin’ tempos that showed off his rip-roaring chops, and those of his stellar sidemen: Gary Mazzaroppi on bass, Ted Rosenthal on piano, Vince Cherico on drums. Guest artists this night were cornetist Jon-Erik Kellso and featured guitarist James Chirillo — a pair of virtuosi I have admired, also, for a very long time.
Working with offhand synchronicity, the group expounded upon each tune, moving from gently swinging to something more profound, trading ever more heated solos that generated a unison fire. The shimmering lines of the guitarists chimed lustrously atop the riveting ensemble interplay. The guitar has always been the chewy center of the jazz rhythm section. Messrs. Vignola and Chirillo delivered on that tasty-rich rhythmic tradition with complexity, precision and wit. Their solos were grounded in history, prismatically echoing a host of illustrious guitar soloing precursors — Charlie Christian, Django Reinhardt, Les Paul, Wes Montgomery — without mimicking them at all. The two men each have such decisive soloing personalities — Vignola, more acerbic and ripping; Chirillo, more contemplative and quantum. The panorama of their playing was both a jazz guitar scholarship lesson and a transcendent individualistic excursion.
The highpoint for me was “Gee, Baby, Ain’t I Good to You?” partly because it is one of my favorite songs by the lyricist Andy Razaf — biographical subject of my book, Black and Blue.
But only partly. The groove that Vignola and company carved on “Gee, Baby” blew away everything that both preceded and ultimately followed it. Cueing off the sizzling plunger mute blues cornet of Mr. Kellso, and luscious blues guitar comping and soloing by Mr. Chirillo, “Gee, Baby” was one for the ages. It could only have happened live.
Almost forty years ago, I first encountered Frank Vignola, then in his prodigy years, as an early member of Vince Giordano’s Nighthawks. His unique capacity for conjuring Django Reinhardt, an artist almost impossible to replicate, drew me to him then. Since those Nighthawk days, Frank has gone on to play his guitar in almost every style imaginable for a panoply of music makers, from Ringo Starr and Madonna, to John Lewis and Lionel Hampton. James Chirillo and I also go back to Vince Giordano (as does Jon-Eric Kellso). James was an inheritor of the Vignola Nighthawks guitar chair and I saw him with the band many, many times, though he has long since become a bedrock guitarist for the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
Where else but at Frank’s “Guitar Night” would you get to hear these two together, riffing as one, on the same stage?
Nowhere, man.
Frank Vignola’s “Guitar Night” happens every Wednesday at Birdland.