Roulette

You’re not in Manhattan anymore, Dorothy …

It was just like the scene where she opens the door and steps out into Oz in full Technicolor, only I stepped into a huge restroom of black and white tiles. And I wasn’t wearing a blue gingham dress.

My jaw dropped at the sight of the seven stalls and three sinks in the clean women’s restroom, then once again at the separate wheelchair accessible ladies room. I had ample time to inspect the bathrooms before the SIM (School for Improvised Music) Big Band concert last Tuesday because everyone from the Facebook invite admin to the venue employees thought the show began at 8pm, except for the band, who thought it started at 8:30pm. The performance actually didn’t start until 8:38pm so everybody was wrong.

The Roulette in Brooklyn, it turns out, is more of a concert hall than a jazz club. They had a nice stage and balcony seating, with decor reminiscent of a Korean dermatologist or plastic surgeon’s office or a trendy Thai restaurant where the waiters wear dress shirts with ruffles.

I was particularly excited to hear saxophonist Andrew D’Angelo, one of the most inspirational and incredible musicians I have met. The alto player, wearing his little blue (and plaid) suede shoes, led the opening piece of the hour and forty-two minutes long set. The 17-piece all-star band, playing with synergistic energy, concluded the first piece and the audience responded with a “dot dot dot … question mark?” as my voice teacher would say.

“That was a song,” Andrew D’Angelo kindly informed us and we clapped enthusiastically on cue.

I liked that different musicians took turns conducting the big band tunes and enjoyed seeing SIM faculty, like Ralph Alessi and Andy Milne, for the first time since I attended their workshop a few winters ago. On my visit, I was impressed by the vast yet tightly knit music community in the city; I spotted Ravi Coltrane (also in the SIM big band), followed by another saxophonist, Peter Apfelbaum, while sitting around in the small music room of a local restaurant after a friend’s gig. Still, New York seemed to be full of cold people in cold weather and I knew I would only want to come again if I moved here and got plugged into a community.

And what wonderful communities I have found. Even so, I need a change of scenery and am due for a trip home to California. My sister messaged me over the weekend to let me know that she and my mom were “lying in the front yard on giant pieces of bubble wrap” because they were locked out of the house. I hope they have some bubble wrap left for me when I get home. Also, I am thrilled to be able to present a deluxe Los Angeles edition on the jazz club dearest to my heart during my brief visit. Brooklyn today and LA for the next issue—what’s next?  JAZZ TOILET INTERNATIONAL?

The bari sax player from the big band, Israeli-American Michaël Attias tells us how to say, “Please, where’s the restroom?” in Hebrew —

Bevakasha, eifo ha’sherutim?