Dave Harrington, Joe Russo, Spencer Zahn Trio Make NYC Debut

Words by: Aaron “Neddy” Stein

Dave Harrington, Joe Russo, Spencer Zahn Trio :: 01.30.16 :: Nublu :: New York City

A decade and a half ago, the Wetlands Preserve closed down. It was more than just a club that shut its doors back in 2001 – with the Wetlands gone, there were certain types of shows and magical nights that simply couldn’t exist anymore without the downtown venue. Oh, in the past 15 years sometimes you might get a little glimpse of it: a band and a crowd find that chemistry and you smile and think “this is kind of what it was like at the Wetlands,” but that feeling passes and we continue to make do with what we have.

This past Saturday night and on into Sunday morning, though, the feeling was extra strong at Nublu in the East Village. The gig was billed as Dave Harrington – the guitarist for electronic band Darkside – playing a night of improvisation with Spencer Zahn on bass and Joe Russo on drums, and it would be the first time the three played together. Leading up to the gig, there seemed to be an unusual amount of online chatter from people planning to hit this show, I was curious how many people would actually show up. So, I was a bit surprised when I arrived shortly after the music started, just a bit before midnight, to find the room more or less filled. When I entered, the trio seemed to just be starting to hit their mark: Harrington playing long, ecstatic peak-seeking leads on his Gibson, Russo sputtering shape-shifting rhythms over the crowd on the house drum kit and Zahn plugging away at the low end, tethering the free-form jams so they couldn’t get too far-flung. Toward the end of this first set, the room continued to fill and the three seemed to find their footing as Harrington played an incredibly long, soaring, explore-and-backtrack solo.

When the set ended, I don’t know, you could just feel something shift in the room. Asking around, people had come down after other shows in town (a healthy number from the Greensky Bluegrass show at Irving Plaza) or from a late dinner, as well as a bunch who just had their eyes on this gig as their sole destination for the night. Whatever it was, the room was at this point, packed – almost uncomfortably so – and the energy was kind of giddy. I looked around Nublu and realized that the room resembled the old Wetlands in many ways, its layout, the psychedelic-dank decor, and especially the way it was packed “Sweatglands” style with the crowd wrapping around the stage on three sides, overflowing to the bar. It was these types of let’s-just-get-on-stage-and-jam shows that were always my favorites there, it was shows like those that guys like Joe Russo made their first mark on the NYC music scene. It was starting to feel like one of those nights.

After a lengthy break, Harrington came back and announced that since it was the trio’s first time performing together, the first set was technically their “rehearsal” and the show was starting now. It was 1:15 in the morning, you could not go to the bathroom or bar for a beer without stepping on someone’s toe and the crowd was ready. The band obliged immediately, Zahn hop-skip-and-jumping a groove into the audience who wasted no time getting their boogie on as Russo took full ownership of that drum kit. While Harrington was impressive in the first set, his playing was best-shit-ever-man! good in the second, the tone a sort of Kimock/Scofield hybrid: jazz-improv-solo, meets crunch-rock, meets slowly-rolling-teardrop beauty, meets late-night groove machine, tasteful looping and long noodles by the mouthful. This wasn’t so much improv as it was full-out is-anyone-taping-this? jamming, 80+ minutes of it, with countless build-then-bliss peaks and incredibly funky everybody-dance-now straightaways.

Sure, some people left as the set went on, but considering the hour, the crowd held plenty strong. Me, thinking about how little sleep I’d be operating on come Sunday proper, I kept insisting that I’d leave after 5 more minutes … And then the energy hit a new peak and I had no choice to bargain my future self for five more minutes until I finally just gave in for the duration. Sure, maybe nights like these seem bigger and better in the moment, but that’s the point, isn’t it? That was the thing about the Wetlands magic. And then, as if on cue, Harrington flipped the lid open with an unexpected little “China Cat Sunflower” jam that Russo helped invert, eliciting an especially gleeful yelp from the dancing crowd.

It was almost 2:30 a.m. and they weren’t quite done yet, but, then again, folks didn’t worry too much about the time in those Wetlands days, so why should we?