We are delighted to feature our next artist for the Chats with the Cats series, Saxophonist Nick Green.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Nick recounts his early inspirations.
"There wasn’t a tremendous scene in Brooklyn growing up, but I remember being first inspired by my father’s friend Willie Martinez watching his group "La Familia Sextet'', a small latin jazz group that was very inspiring. Willie was a guy I grew up around and was very encouraging to me early on when I began playing saxophone. My father is a chef and my mother also worked in restaurants but had a beautiful singing voice and was a dancer in her youth. I acted in school plays when I was younger. She was very supportive of my involvement in the arts, unfortunately she passed away and never saw me play the saxophone when I switched to playing music.
I saw Sonny Rollins playing live when I was in High School, after that concert I realized I wanted to play music seriously. Later on I met some horn players, older than I am, guys on the scene today like Bruce Harris, Stefano Doglioni and Joe Magnarelli. They showed me it’s possible to make a living doing what you love, playing music and also teaching it."
During his formative years, Nick was a student of the Jazz Standard Youth Orchestra, another wing of the Jazz Generation family. "My experiences with the JSYO were some of the most important moments of my early development as a young musician. Some great musicians came out of the program I was a part of, such as Davis Whitfield, Evan Sherman, Jordan Young, Matt Martinez and a few more. I’m grateful for all the hard work David O’ Rourke and Emily Elyshevitz put into that program, I know that the Jazz Standard closed during the pandemic. I hope they’ll find another place to reopen, there were a lot of great memories made down there and it was a great way to help the youth stay inspired and continue to grow."
It was Nick's father Neil that bought him his first saxophone when Nick was 8 and now Nick provides the music in his restaurant, the Flying Lobster.
"The Flying Lobster is my father’s bar (Neil Ganic). He gave me the chance to set up live music there a few nights a week after I graduated college a year or two ago. It has been well received by the people in the neighborhood and beyond. Many of my favorite musicians have had the chance to play there as well and none of it would’ve been possible if not for my old man, he’s got a big heart and he loves music too."
The pandemic caused huge changes to our lives, no more evidently than the live music scene. Nick reflects on quarantining, outdoor entertainment and KU!'s importance to the city.
"My experience has been playing outdoors more than I ever did before! Thank goodness we could still play outside during the thick of COVID. Isolating was not fun for me, having a few months to catch up on practice was great, but there is nothing like playing with other musicians and learning to grow on the bandstand. I hope things continue getting better moving forward. There is no place in the world like New York city. There may be less work playing today than there was 40 or 50 years ago, however there are still a ton of opportunities here that you don’t get anywhere else in the world, and I’ve had the privilege to play around Europe etc. I’ve found that you have to find a way to create your own scene and also stay connected with your peers and go watch them play, there will always be a chance for you somewhere here."
"Michael Weiss the great pianist and Bob Mover the great saxophonist both told me about KEYEDUP!, that they might be able to help fund the music at my family’s place. KEYEDUP! has been so important to keeping the music alive at the Flying Lobster, all of the musicians are so grateful for their support. They help support a lot of other great venues throughout the city and I wish that there were more sponsors like them out there in the world."
So what has Nick been listening to this month?
"I’m always listening to Charlie Parker and Lester Young, they’re my favorites. I love classical music too, I’ve enjoyed listening to Schubert and Bartok. My mentor, the great Charles McPherson, turned me on to Bartok’s concerto for orchestra. Talk about some interesting stuff! And in person I’ve heard my good friends Pasquale Grasso and Stefano Doglioni - they always inspire me and it shows that music is a universal language. These are two guys from Italy who play the heck out of this music. I heard two of my favorite alto players recently at the Flying Lobster, Mike DiRubbo and Jon Gordon, two masters of the instrument."
You can find Nick playing at the Flying Lobster, with live music 5 nights a week. He next plays on Saturday night 09/25 from 7-10pm with Josh Lee, a baritone saxophonist from Philadelphia. Check out his website nickgreenmusic.com for more information about upcoming recordings and gigs.
