Bryce Edwards and Mike Davis to Present HOT COMBINATION at BIRDLAND

BIRDLAND JAZZ CLUB will present Vaudevillian troubadour Bryce Edwards of the venue’s acclaimed “Frivolity Hour” and celebrated New York cornetist Mike Davis of The New Wonders in their new show “Hot Combination” – honoring the iconic jazz duo Red Nichols and Cliff Edwards – on Monday, September 1 at 7:00 PM. Edwards and Davis will be joined by an all-star band of traditional jazz specialists, including Ricky Alexander on reeds, Josh Holcomb on trombone, Felix Lemerle on guitar, Dalton Ridenhour on piano, Jay Rattman on bass saxophone, and Colin Hancock on drums. There is a $35 music charge. Birdland is located at 315 West 44th Street in New York.
 
A mainstay of New York studio groups in the 1920s, Red Nichols’ cool tone, inventive cornet language, and avant-garde arrangements seem to set up an alternate jazz future that never was; and though the ukulele-toting, mouth-trumpeting Cliff Edwards (who would later voice Jiminy Cricket in Pinocchio) may seem like a jazz age oddity at first blush, he was one of the era’s most innovative and jazz-forward pop vocalists and an early pioneer of scat singing. In 1925, these two singular musical voices combined forces to make some of the most infectious records of the ‘20s, and now, one hundred years later, Davis and Edwards are joining forces to pay tribute and introduce the 21st century to these all-too-often forgotten figures.
 
Mike Davis has lovingly transcribed selections from these hot sessions and has recruited the unique vocalist Bryce Edwards, who has dug his heels in at the same intersection of jazz and vaudeville that was Cliff Edwards’ (no relation) stock and trade, to embody the bygone performer’s signature humor, heart, and driving ukulele. Davis, meanwhile, will demonstrate his intimate knowledge of Red Nichols’ unique approach, imbuing it with a new, fresh-as-ever verve.