Thursday at Project Lodge and Death of Cabana Room

by Patrick Breiner

Greetings Wisconsinites,

Hot off the presses: The Cabana Room has given the New Breed the ax. We will not be playing this Wednesday, nor the following, nor any subsequent Wednesday night. The reason? Who knows? The explanation given by a high ranking Samba Party official: “We’re not making enough money off it.” That seems strange to this guerilla as the bar is always packed with 50-100 people whenever we play. Where is all that money going? Certainly not to the hard-working citizens who keep the gears a-turnin’.

In any case, the New Breed is currently looking for a new home for underground jazzy camaraderie. We here at WPJB will keep you abreast of the wheelings and dealings.

That being said, come get your weekly fix of great music on Thursday instead!

The deets:
This Thursday, Nov 5
7:30-10:30 pm
at the Project Lodge
817 East Johnson St. at Paterson
$5

Pay admission and dip into a free cooler of Miller High Life! Or BYOB if you’re feeling hoity-toity.

This Thursday will feature, from Chicago:
Caroline Davis – saxophone
Dave Miller – guitar

From Madison:
Patrick Breiner – saxophone
Luke Polipnick – guitar

We’ll also have some awesome stage visuals by Tyler Mackie.

Don’t miss it!

New Breed Jam update

The last 2 weeks the Isthmus Newspaper has listed the New Breed Jam session at the Cabana Room as starting at 10pm.  Just to avoid any confusion, the time of the jam session hasn’t changed. The New Breed starts at 9pm, plays one set, and then jammers are invited up during the next set starting around 10:15.

Some of the jammers don’t arrive until just before the second set, but you’re really missing out if you don’t catch the New Breed’s first set.   The New Breed plays some of the best jazz in Madison, and since the Isthmus Jazz Festival the group has been on fire! They are more focused, concentrating on the music of a particular composer each week, and seem more inspired since they’ve begun regularly mixing in originals.

Unfortunately, sax man Patrick Breiner will be out east the next few weeks so there may be a bit of a letdown. The band seems to feed off his youthful energy and sag a bit when he’s gone. In the meantime, it’s always interesting to hear whoever might fill in, and the special guests that stop by.

New Breed Jam settles in at Cabana Room

A week ago I posted that the New Breed jam was on the last week of their scheduled eight week run at the Cabana.  That night at the jam Nick announced several times that the New Breed jam happens every Wednesday night at the Cabana and hopefully will continue for a long, long time. It appears the Cabana Room management has extended their stay indefinitely.

Last week of New Breed jam?

This Wednesday night is the last scheduled date of the New Breed Quintet’s eight week run at the Cabana run. According to Nick, the management is reviewing the situation and will be making a decision on whether to keep the jam. Madison jazz fans have been very supportive; open tables are rare . It’s hard to imagine the jam won’t be back, but be there this Wednesday just to make sure.

The return of the New Breed Jazz Jam – Patrick Breiner

Madison folks,

I’ve finally returned after 2 long months troubadoring (it wasn’t a verb before, but it is now) on the East Coast!

Kicking off the new year, the new prez, in a new space is the New Breed!

After a short hiatus we’ve found a new home at Samba’s Cabana Room. Check out Madison Jazz Blog’s review of the space here. We’ll play there every Wednesday for the next 8 weeks – maybe more if you all come show your support for Madison’s best jazz quintet!

It starts tomorrow night:
Wednesday, January 21
9 pm
Samba Brazilian Grill’s Cabana Room
240 West Gilman Street (at State)
FREE!

Don’t forget, this is also a jam session. So if you’re a musician definitely bring your ax.

Hope to see you all very soon.

Best,
Patrick

CD at CD Baby – www.CDBaby.com/VartanMamigonian
Official Website – www.VartanMamigonian.net
Myspace – www.myspace.com/PatrickBreinerMusic

Wednesday Jazz Jam starts Jan 21 at Cabana Room

Not much jazz happening lately in Madison. It seems to get like this during the winter break and then pick up again once school is in. I was looking forward to the jam session beginning again next Wednesday but I hadn’t heard anything more. That didn’t seem good. Well, it’s not happening next week but at least it’s going to happen. Here’s the scoop from Dave Stoler:

Jazz jam reborn at Cabana Room

I can’t help myself. The New Breed gets booted by a sports bar and I have the nerve to compare them to Brett Favre. It’s only for a moment so please humor me. Favre has many Packer fans that continue to follow his play with the Jets. The question is are the New Breed fans just as loyal?

The answer is a no-brainer. The only special thing about the Concourse is it’s acoustics; the New Breed is the attraction. Considering the large crowd at the Cabana Room Wednesday night, playing at the Concourse may have actually limited the audience for the New Breed. The jam was a smashing success: the turnout was large, the room works well for jazz, and it was announced the jam will resume every Wednesday at the Cabana starting the second week of January.

Dave Cooper laments loss of Concourse jam

Dave Cooper sent in the following post before last night’s jam in the Cabana Room at Samba’s. His spirits should be higher this morning; the jam was a hit. I will post more on the jam soon.

As many of you know, the New Breed Jazz Quintet has held a jam session at the Concourse Hotel Bar every Wednesday evening for the past seven years. Wednesday, November 19th, the hotel management told the group that they were going to close the doors for a month for renovation and when it re-opens in January, it will be a sports bar with no live music. …Yes, no live music on any night of the week and yet another sports bar… It confounds me that the management would think this is a wise strategy. It seems to me that sports bars generally cater to local folks gathering together to be in a space of like-minded fans. (Generally drinking cheap beer and shouting at tv’s.) The Concourse is trying to be one of Madison’s premier hotels and cater to a national, if not international clientele. It would seem to me that those type of travelers would much rather go downstairs from their $150+ rooms to a more sophisticated room and have a glass of wine or scotch. If they really wanted to see a game they could very conveniently walk around the corner to State Street and have their pick of sports bars. Besides, I just don’t see the typical Madison sports-bar-goer wanting to watch a game in a hotel bar when there is State Street right there.

New Breed To Play at Samba’s

Yesterday Dave Stoler made the announcement in the Isthmus Music Hype section and today I found it buried deep beneath rock and punk promotions. Hey Dave, how are the jazzers going to find out? We want to know;  we want to be there. Luckily I found it, copied it and pasted it below:

To those who attended the New Breed jazz jam session at The Concourse, the band is scheduled to perform at Samba Brazilian Grill on Wednesday, December 17th from 9-11:30pm in the Cabana Room on the ground level. There will be a $3 cover charge for listeners, and those sitting in will be allowed to come in free of charge (provided they have their instrument (or drumsticks) with them). We look forward to seeing both familiar and new faces at this special performance, please spread the word.

The ad leaves me confused. It is not called a jam session, yet there will be people sitting in. Is an invitation needed to sit in? It calls it a special performance which suggests it may not be be repeated. Is this a trial run, are they still working on other possibilities for the long term? It doesn’t mention Patrick won’t be there. Last I heard he he has gigs in New York and will not be back until mid-January. Maybe Dave will stop by to clear some of this up.

Addendum: Dave declined to comment. I guess we’ll just have to go and find out for ourselves.

Letter from the Concourse

Today’s Wisconsin State Journal carries a story about the demise of jazz at the Concourse Hotel bar. See the article here. The article mentioned a letter sent to musicians notifying them about the Concourse’s change of plans. This letter was mentioned previously on this site, and on the Isthmus Daily Page thread on this same topic. I’ve been told that band leaders received the letter but sidemen did not. If you want to read the letter, here it is: