Beef Broccoli

With an album named Beef Music Volume 1: Freedom to the Dogs, track titles like "Thunderthighs" and interludes dubbed "Party Over Here" I was a little disoriented by young Jazz guitarist Nikhil P. Yerawadekar's Quintet. I thought of "What's Beef" and couldn't figure out how something like that would work with a Jazz quintet. First impressions and accompanying initial expectations are funny that way. They trigger tentativeness and judgement outside of experience and I'm predisposed to both. So I put the CD aside until now having noticed that Yerawadekar's Quintet is playing Williamsburg's Rose this evening.

Today, I gave the album a good listen and it's a bright and impassioned collection of Yerawadekar compostions (I ended up really liking "Thunderthighs") and that I would certainly recommend checking out in the live format. Tonight Yerawadekar--who is also a member of the AKOYA Afrobeat Ensemble--Seth Paris, Dave Melton, Dave Ostrem and James Windsor-will take the stage at 9pm. Cover is just 5 bones.