Nick Russo is a guitar player living in Queens, NY. I met Nick about nine years ago when we played together to back up Japanese singer Emiko Segawa at a few clubs in New York City.
Nick and his wife Betina and their twins Lydian and Seriana came down from Queens, NY to visit relatives in Garner, NC. During an impromptu living room performance, I caught this fantastic original song of theirs “Become A Lake” on video! Stay tuned for a more in-depth interview with Nick in the next few days, and if you’re in town drop by The Blue Note Grill in Durham on December 26 from 7-10pm to see Nick in action.
I’ve been playing organ for Ben Palmer’s Jazz Jam every monday at the Blue Note Grill in Durham. The jam session is always packed with great musicians, and it gets better every week. One time, in front of a packed house, Ben asked how many people in the club were musicians- about 40% of the people in the place played music. Another time, we had 6 jazz guitar players show up on one night!
The excellent musicians and the supportive atmosphere of the club make for some high-level music. The purpose of this blog is to try to document some of the sights and sounds from this remarkable weekly music hang.
December is here, and in Carrboro, that can only mean one thing: time for some guys with a crane to hang up plastic snowflakes on all the telephone poles! Also, time to order a lot of Doug Largent Trio CD’s to give as Xmas gifts. I know- nobody uses CD players anymore, but still nothing beats a Doug Largent Trio CD to let someone know “Hey, I like you about $10 worth!”
Also, we have invented another product that you are bound to enjoy: it’s called Hiring Us To Play At Your Holiday Party Or Wedding. You’ll love our band at your party- we show up early, and we look and smell great. The drummer is very handsome, and the other members look good because we’re set up not very far away from the drummer.
There are a few great shows this month that I’d like to mention. This Friday, Dec. 2 we are going to play at a shopping bazaar organized by our friend Amy, owner of Chic Event Productions. We’ll be playing music while dozens of great vendors sell cool stuff, all in a climate-controlled building in Downtown Raleigh with plenty of public parking.
Then on Saturday, we’re back in Pittsboro playing at the Pittsboro General Store, playing at a late night music series booked by Nikki of Dynamo Muse Productions. I think you’ll love the atmosphere, and each one of the bands she books is really good.
Sunday, Dec. 4 at the Oxford will be a great time for you to come check out my new Nord C2 keyboard during the day, so you can see the blinding red color, and you can hear us play at a volume level only slightly lower than that which would make people complain to the manager.
On New Year’s Eve we’ll be playing at an incredible new wine bar called UnWINED, in Moncure, NC not too far outside of Pittsboro. It’s astounding what Joni and Ray have done with this abandoned store out in the country! Not only were they able to restore a genuine piece of North Carolina history, but they have turned it into an elegant venue for selling North Carolina wines. Come hang out with us on New Year’s Eve and support your local economy in a huge way.
Finally I wanted to mention that Chatham County election results are in, and I’m thrilled that two of my favorite candidates got elected: Mayor Randy Voller, and Town Commissioner Beth Turner! Could you correlate Beth Turner’s victory to the fact that we performed at a fundraiser for her? Absolutely probably not!
It feels weird to look at my calendar and realize that we only have three gigs in November, but that only means that each one will be very precious. I promise that we will be in the woodshed learning new songs to play for you. Also, at this very moment, T.J. is out purchasing awesome new shirts and pants at prices so low, it will make your eyes water.
I know you are probably thinking “Wow, the Doug Largent Trio is lame. They have no gigs, and they’re just a bunch of lazy bums. Let’s just turn off our internet and go outside and play with BB guns.” But wait, we’re not just sitting around smoking pipes and reading Esquire. I’m actually busy doing some other stuff!
Here are some highlights:
- going to the Virginia Center for Creative Arts to perform and do music stuff with my friend, the Emmy-Award-Winning-J.-Walter-Hawkes
- doing “A Doll’s House” at Duke from November 11-20. It’s directed by Ellen Hemphill, and features music composed by my buddy Allison Leyton-Brown
- Other stuff, which I can’t remember because my calendar is downstairs right now.
We’re still playing at the Station, City Tap, and the Oxford. Come by the jam session on November 14 and bring your saxomaphone. Our gigs out at East 54 are currently on hold, but we’re hoping to be back at Archira soon.
Thanks! Hope to see you all this month.
If you’ve followed this blog for the past few months, you are already aware that the Doug Largent Trio is firmly rooted in local politics. When we first performed at The City Tap in Pittsboro, I met Pittsboro mayor Randy Voller. I was struck by the fact that he is such a normal, genuinely nice guy, totally unlike the grease-ball jerks you see on television commercials.
But the most remarkable thing to me is his support of music. Most mayors might give you a lot of hot air about how they support the arts. Randy Voller, on the other hand, hosts a JAM SESSION… EVERY WEEK… AT HIS HOUSE. Now that’s a mayor that cares about the arts.
Also quietly working behind the scenes to make Pittsboro a great place is Beth Turner. After graduating from UNC a while ago, she played guitar in several bands, started a program called Girls Rock (www.girlsrocknc.org), and has organized artisan fairs in downtown Pittsboro for years. Now she has decided to run for the Pittsboro Town Board of Commisioners.
We are proud to be playing at her political fundraiser this month. If she gets elected, I might have to leave Carrboro and move to Pittsboro! Check out www.bethforpittsboro.com.
In other Pittsboro-related news, we’re playing at the Chatham County Fair on October 1st. This is going to be really cool, and I’m honored to be playing right after one of my favorite local artists Steph Stewart.
Shows at Piola and Archira have been terrific, especially since we have been able to convince the management to let us play outdoors, weather permitting. If you’ve never been to East 54 and visited these restaurants, you’ll be in for a treat, and East 54 is not nearly as creepy as their advertisements make it seem.
Our biweekly residency at the Station continues, as does our monthly gig at the Oxford. We’ve even been able to get our foot in the door at a few private parties. So please come out and hear us play and enjoy yourselves.
Our CD is now available for you to buy– just click on the ‘Buy a CD’ menu choice above.
Conventional wisdom tells us that every rich and famous band has recordings hidden away from their early days. Usually, they are just cheap four-track recordings done with Radio Shack mics. Usually, they sound like someone forgot to turn on Dolby.
Then, when the band gets rich and famous, a record company releases them using a title such as, “Nancy Sinatra, The Punk Rock Years.”
Well, I’m here to tell you right now that you don’t have to wait until TJ is rich and famous to hear our low-budget recording. Our CD was done for free in a rehearsal studio, we only used 3 audio tracks, and you won’t hear the slightest bit of Dolby. What you’ll get is a collection of 8 tracks of us jamming as hard as we can!! Hope y’all decide to get one.
Our schedule is pretty full this month compared to last month. We’re continuing our bi-weekly show at The Station, as well as appearances at Piola and Jesse’s. If you have time this weekend, the weather this Friday for our show at Company Markets in Burlington should be perfect.
Well I hope you all have a great week. And in conclusion, I’d like to add:
BUY A CD NOW!!!!
See you later!
Some of you younger folks think of August as being back-to-school time. For the majority of us, it’s just about time to start thinking about winterizing our RV. Personally, I abandoned my RV in the woods behind the Wilson Park years ago, so I have no worries. But I sure miss the convenience of a propane-powered refrigerator and CB radio.
We have a couple of shows at The Station in Carrboro. I think it’s going to be a regular biweekly show. Also, we’ll be back in Pittsboro at City Tap.
The other big news is that we’re putting out a CD. We just finished recording it the other day. “Why are you putting out a CD? What about MySpace or Napster? Why don’t you just put your music out using those?” But you have to realize that when I first got a CD player in 1989 or so, CD’s were all about $39 each, and had Japanese words written all over them. I only had about 2 CD’s. One of them was Relaxin’ with the Miles Davis Quintet, a Japanese import which I bought used for $20 at Back Door Records.
When I got it, I listened to it five million times non-stop. Then, when I got sick of listening to it, I bought a music notebook and wrote out all of the solos.
I guess for me, CD’s are still a shiny, exotic thing which serve as tangible proof that you didn’t just sit at home on your ass, but went out to a recording studio and sweated it out for a few days.
They also look great hanging from your RV’s rearview mirror. See you in Pittsboro!
We’re roaring headlong into July with two weekends of outstanding shows. On the first two fridays, we’re playing the late set at City Tap in Pittsboro. It’s an outdoor patio show where you just might rub elbows with some of the most important people in Pittsboro. The past few times we have played at City Tap, the actual mayor of Pittsboro has been there, unwinding from a grueling week of issuing fishing licenses, presiding at shotgun weddings, and executing criminals. But we are extremely lucky to be friends with Mayor Randolph Voller, and we are hoping to get him to take care of our backlog of Pittsboro parking tickets.
If you’ve never been to the Oxford in Raleigh to hear us play, this month your excuse becomes twice as flimsy and unacceptable, because we’re playing there 2 WEEKS in a row. The Oxford serves brunch buffet-style, with an omelet station and a waffle station, and those strawberries which are crisscrossed with white and regular chocolate. Also, there is a bar where you can make your own bloody mary, with a lot of cool things such as olives, horseradishes, and those impossibly small baby onions. On July 3rd, we will be celebrating the birthday of a friend, and we have promised to perform a Funk Odyssey of our choice for her. Please do not ask her her age, for to do so would be gutless and tactless.
After we play at the Oxford on July 3rd, we’re going to pack up the truck and high-tail it over to Burlington to play an hour and a half set at The Company Shops Market. I’ve never been there before, but it’s supposed to be a lot like Weaver Street Market in Carrboro, except without the dump trucks and steam shovels. When are they going to finish working on Weaver Street anyway? So when you are exhausted from shopping Burlington for shoes, towels and cigarettes all day, come hang out with us.
Our shows at East 54 are on again, so we’ll see you there on July 17. I’ll probably be playing as a duo with Brad. Last time we did it, it was Father’s Day, and I saw the most rad Segway I’ve ever seen. It was a Segway Mark 2, and it was set up as a wheelchair. So instead of the guy standing on it, a guy was riding sitting on it.
It looks as if Johnny’s of Carrboro is closed for good now. I’ll miss playing out there.
Also, in the near future I’m going to be posting a few new videos from a recent gig. See y’all later.
After a few weeks off, June 2 marks our return to Thursday Nights at Johnny’s in Carrboro. We will be playing out on the back porch in the sunshine. There is no cover charge, and you can sit outside and drink while munching on pizza or tacos served up by food trucks situated right there in the parking lot. Now that’s the type of convenience that we Southerners have come to expect.
On Sunday, June 5, we have been invited to play in Downtown Pittsboro for their First Sunday event that they have every month. It’s all part of our plan to take over Pittsboro, and annex it to Carrboro. Our drummer TJ is even considering running for mayor. We play from 1-4pm outdoors, so don’t forget your parasol.
We’ll be bringing our brand of Soul Jazz to The City Tap in Pittsboro on June 10. Again we’ll be playing outdoors. By then, we will have farmer tans to rival all others. In my opinion, farmer tans will make us appear trustworthy and hard-working, which would be the truth in the case of our guitar player Brad. Anyways, come sit on the back deck of the City Tap, which will give you a peanut-gallery perspective on the band from which you can toss straws and dirty napkins in our general direction. Or $100 bills if you choose.
***Update. These shows at East 54 have been cancelled*** Starting on June 19, Brad and I will be appearing each Sunday through the end of July at noon, outdoors at East 54 in Chapel Hill. We will be playing right in front of Streets Deli, which is a great NY style deli. The first time I walked in, I was almost reduced to tears when I noticed they had an entire cooler of Manhattan Special espresso soda, which I haven’t seen since my gigging days in NYC. You gotta try one of those!
What month would be complete without a road trip to Raleigh to play a brunch show at the Oxford? We’ll be playing there on the 12th from 11 to 3. Stop by for a fantastic brunch buffet, and to marvel at the handsome Raleigh police officer zooming back and forth on his Segway. His smartly-pressed pants flapping in the breeze! Not one perfectly-combed hair ever blowing out of place! When will the Carrboro police force ever get their act together and buy Segways????
We are also happy to be playing at our favorite Carrboro hangs, Jessee’s Coffee and The Station this month, so hope to see you there.
