{"id":10077,"date":"2011-11-20T13:07:07","date_gmt":"2011-11-20T17:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.opticality.com\/blog\/?p=10077"},"modified":"2011-11-20T13:08:09","modified_gmt":"2011-11-20T17:08:09","slug":"greg-mayo-band-at-rockwood-music-hall-stage-2-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/2011\/11\/20\/greg-mayo-band-at-rockwood-music-hall-stage-2-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Mayo Band at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s a Saturday night in NYC without a taste of Greg Mayo<\/a>? Empty<\/strong>! Thankfully, NYC was full<\/strong> last night. Greg often plays with others on a Saturday, but it was his turn to shine in the spotlight with The Greg Mayo Band.<\/p>\n

\"GregMayo\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Given the time of year, it was no surprise that there were some substitutions. While we will welcome the regulars back with open arms (they are all exceptional), last night\u2019s replacements were no slouches and the show was up there with the best we\u2019ve seen!<\/p>\n

The only missing piece was female vocals (Rebecca Haviland<\/a> was performing in MD). That said, while Rockwood Music Hall<\/a> Stage 2 often gets the sound right (or at least really good), I can\u2019t recall it ever being better than last night.<\/p>\n

Greg is always an excellent vocalist, but last night was perhaps his best effort (possibly due entirely to the sound engineer getting everyone\u2019s levels perfect).<\/p>\n

\"GregMayoSinging\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Greg was as masterful as ever on the grand piano and electronic keyboards. We typically sit\/stand on that side of the stage for a Greg Mayo Band show, but last night we stood very close at a better angle to watch Greg play. Wow<\/strong>!<\/p>\n

\"GregMayoKeyboard\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I wondered whether there would be a good crowd, because Greg\u2019s set was sandwiched between two paid shows. Logistically, that can be a headache. No worries, it was a large and very energetic\/enthusiastic crowd.<\/p>\n

It was impossible to stand still. Foot tapping, head bobbing, body swaying, full-on dancing. If you weren\u2019t doing at least one of those, you weren\u2019t at the same show.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get to the amazing band, left-to-right on stage:<\/p>\n

Jeff Richardi<\/a> on baritone sax. Jeff was filling in for John Liotta, very ably. Jeff took a couple of leads, one was very long and tasty. He also kicked off a number of the songs with a funky bottom.<\/p>\n

\"JeffRichardi\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Josh Reed<\/a> on trumpet. Josh tore it up on one long solo and was consistently excellent on the remaining fills, as always.<\/p>\n

\"JoshReed\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Jon Irabagon<\/a> on tenor sax. Jon was filling in for Matt Simons<\/a>. I am in love with Matt Simons sax play, but I still feel a bit silly labeling Jon as filling in<\/em>. Here\u2019s part of the first line of Jon\u2019s bio:<\/p>\n

winner of the 2008 Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yes folks, we had a superstar in our midst. That\u2019s what can happen at any time at a place like Rockwood. Jon hasn\u2019t forgotten his friends as he\u2019s moved up the ladder and when given an opportunity to sit in, happily took it. Happily for us as well!<\/p>\n

\"JonIrabagon\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Kenny Shaw<\/a> on drums. It\u2019s been nearly a month since we\u2019ve seen Kenny hit the skins. Something was probably askew with the universe, as we\u2019ve seen Kenny more often this year than any other drummer. He was on fire last night, so I guess he felt he had to make it up to us. OK Kenny, we\u2019re back to even again. Until next time! (which I hope will be this Friday, 8pm, Rockwood 1, for Rebecca Haviland\u2019s show) \"Smile\"<\/p>\n

\"KennyShaw\"<\/a>\"KennyShawDrums\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Chris Anderson<\/a> on electric bass and vocals. Chris always delivers on the bass. He also sings background on every Greg Mayo Band show, but without Rebecca\u2019s voice last night, Chris was way more prominent on the harmony with Greg. Given how good the sound levels were, he was crystal clear and really did a great job. Way to belt it out Chris!<\/p>\n

\"ChrisAnderson\"<\/a>\"ChrisAndersonSinging\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul Maddison<\/a> on electric guitar and vocals. Paul was excellent throughout on both. During one number, Greg seemed to finish the song abruptly. A few people clapped, but it didn\u2019t feel like the song was actually over. In fact, they took the few seconds of silence to morph it into a song by a band that Paul Maddison and Kenny Shaw are in, which Greg Mayo produces.<\/p>\n

\"PaulMaddisonSinging\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul sang two verses of Lipstick on My Booty, a staple of The Thang Band<\/a>. I\u2019ve seen one Thang Band show, and have been waiting (impatiently and excitedly) for another opportunity.<\/p>\n

To prove that the original song wasn\u2019t over, after singing the second verse of Lipstick, they morphed back into the original song and Greg finished it up big. A nice tease for The Thang Band.<\/p>\n

Paul also sang a lot of background vocals on the other numbers, often with Chris Anderson as well.<\/p>\n

Robbie Gil<\/a> was called up as a special guest star on two numbers. One in the middle of the set and again for the encore. Robbie has a very powerful voice, which reminds me of Joe Cocker. He fit in perfectly with Greg\u2019s sound, and sang a verse on lead in each number, along with background for the rest of the song.<\/p>\n

\"RobbieGilChrisAndersonPaulMaddison\"<\/a>\"RobbieGilSinging\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the set list:<\/p>\n

\"SetList\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At one point, Greg introduced himself. After saying that he was Greg Mayo, he added: \u201cOr when my mom is in the room, like now, Gregory is OK as well\u201d. \"Smile\"<\/p>\n

The audiences at Rockwood definitely like the human interest side of their artists (we certainly do), so everyone started looking around immediately. At first Greg said \u201cPerhaps she doesn\u2019t want attention called to her\u201d. That didn\u2019t stop people from trying to figure out who it was. So, eventually, he said \u201cMom, raise your hand\u201d. She did and we were all satisfied and allowed Greg to back to singing. \"Smile\"<\/p>\n

A great show which definitely made going out on a chilly Saturday night the right decision. I think Greg mentioned that the next Greg Mayo Band show was on December 17th, also at Rockwood 2, but the website doesn\u2019t go out that far yet, so double check.<\/p>\n

Some shots of the brass section and the rest of the band (can\u2019t see Kenny or Greg in these angles). Last shot is of the encore, with Robbie Gil back on stage:<\/p>\n

\"BrassSectionCloseup\"<\/a>\"JeffRichardiJoshReedChrisAndersonJonIrabagonPaulMaddison\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"GregMayoBandEncore\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What\u2019s a Saturday night in NYC without a taste of Greg Mayo? Empty! Thankfully, NYC was full last night. Greg often plays with others on a Saturday, but it was his turn to shine in the spotlight with The Greg Mayo Band. Given the time of year, it was no surprise that there were some […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17,2],"tags":[602,715,1167,1166,1075,819,1367,861,853,493],"class_list":["post-10077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-music","category-2","tag-chris-anderson","tag-greg-mayo","tag-jeff-richardi","tag-jon-irabagon","tag-josh-reed","tag-kenny-shaw","tag-music","tag-paul-maddison","tag-robbie-gil","tag-rockwood-music-hall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10077"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10079,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10077\/revisions\/10079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/opticality.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}