Paul Bollenback Trio @Smoke, March 7th

(Sorry for forgetting to post this in a more timely fashion. It only just occurred to me recently that it was music-related, and therefore, blog-worthy.)

Tina, my best friend from high school, was visiting from Seattle, so I decided to take her to a great little jazz bar on the UWS called Smoke, where we met up with the Mad Scientist. The Mad Scientist loves that Tuesdays and Wednesdays are Hammond B-3 organ nights at Smoke since he is teaching himself how to play.

We met up for the 8 o'clock set, for which there was no cover, which was nice -- just a $20 food/drink minimum. Though the food prices were a bit steep (but understandably so), the food was pretty tasty. I particularly enjoyed the French onion soup. The drink list was decent, too, despite an absence of Guinness.

The setting was nice and intimate. About 40 people sat in front of the stage at tables of two or three, and about another dozen at the bar. The trio -- a guitarist backed by the organ and drums -- played your typical jazz jamming -- solid, but meh. The Mad Scientist and I were hoping for something a little funkier, but it was a little too plain jane vanilla for our tastes. Not particularly memorable, which may be why I didn't feel compelled to run home and write about the experience.

Overall, however, I do recommend checking out Smoke if you're at all into jazz. It was a good first music stop for me and the Mad Scientist. I'm looking forward to catching much more jazz with him. :-)