On a recent Friday in early July, late in the afternoon, 30-something piano virtuoso Andrew Bemkey began his second set exploring the range of a bass
clarinet, filling the 5C Cafe with rich, plummy tones, then providing his own accompaniment on the venue's Kimball baby grand. Unable to restrain himself, former Leon Thomas keyboardist Arthur Sterling rose up from the audience and, settling behind the drum kit, pulled the number into an impromptu duet with
gently prodding hand taps and finger rolls. Bemkey took the bait, and somehow what began as an avant improv morphed into a loose-limbed, brazenly
swinging “Up a Lazy River”. It was a memorable moment, and all the more so because just a few weeks before - until the NY appellate court overturned a 1996 order that restricted the venue to a “strings-only”
performance policy - it literally couldn't have
happened.
That the 5C Cafe exists at all is a testament to the sheer determination of its founders, particularly Bruce Morris, a Philly native who discovered his true home three decades ago in the funky, diverse confines of the East Village. Morris is a man who knows what he wants, and in 1981, when he and a number of
associates began renovating 68 Avenue C under the city's homesteading act, his jazz sights were trained on the building's sunny corner storefront. “My part of the deal was, instead of an apartment, I was supposed to get a finished space,” he said. Unfortunately, that never materialized, and after homesteading for six years Morris found himself with a 30-year lease on an unfinished store. He sublet to a dry cleaner in 1988, but eventually let the business out of its lease when leaks in the ceiling went unaddressed by building management, who, one suspects, were keeping a close eye on rapidly escalating neighborhood rents. Fed up, Morris hung some material to cover the ruined ceiling, and in October 1995 finally opened the community jazz-poetry-performance space he had long
envisioned. And that's when his real problems began.
”The landlord filed suit, saying I had performed illegal renovations and threatening to evict,” Morris said. “I countersued over the leaks, but we got a judge who hates jazz, and he somehow turned my
countersuit into a noise complaint issue.” The court issued an immediate injunction to stop all
performances, and the cafe went dark until the
following March when the “strings-only” order was handed down, which also limited live performances at 5C to no later than 9 pm on weekends and 7 pm
weekdays. (”You see those drums,” Morris says,
pointing to the vintage '50s kit. “They were donated eight years ago by [Ahmad Jamal] drummer Frank Gant, who lives in the neighborhood. And they
couldn't be played until we won the appeal on June 3rd.”) Still, Morris persevered, bringing in local master pianists like Bemkey, Sterling and Charles Eubanks, adding the occasional legend like bassist Reggie Workman for duets, producing spoken word events and offering daytime voice, piano and musical theory instruction with his caf�-cofounder, the performer and longtime musical educator Trudy Silver.
The 5C Cafe won non-profit status in 1996, which has helped keep the cover charge low - rarely more than $5 or $8, with no minimum - even though the cafe's no-alcohol policy eliminates that most primary source of jazz club revenue. (Reasonably priced
organic teas and coffees, including espresso drinks are served, as well as a small but choice selection of fresh smoothies, juices, cakes, salads and vegetarian dishes.) “I'm committed to educating young people,” Morris states. “There has to be a place where kids can go
anytime and hear the music, for the music to survive.” He's also committed to presenting as broad a range of jazz as possible, and cites the legendary East Village club Slugs - it was two blocks down - as a booking inspiration. “Everybody thinks you have to program a particular kind of music,” Morris says, grimacing. “No! At Slugs, they'd have Dixieland one week, Albert Ayler the next. And it worked!” Now that the strings-only order has been lifted, Morris hopes the 5C can replicate the same diverse booking success. His only mandate is to concentrate on acoustic acts. “There's two generations of kids now for whom the drumbeat is defined by a machine. We have to change that.”
Though the early performance hours can make gathering an audience difficult (”Five o'clock, you know, people are still at work, or just getting off work. Or just getting up,” as regular performer Bemkey mused), a small crowd still turned out for Bemkey's first set the Friday I stopped in, and even with the bright summer sun spilling though the room's ample plate-glass, attention was paid. While the atmosphere is decidedly casual - with its ragtag assortment of
mismatched chairs and tables, second-hand couches, exposed steel venting, iron columns, fabric-hung walls and open counter kitchen, 5C screams Lower East Side, c. 1970 - the listening is definitely not, and Bemkey took no prisoners in either set. “You always play like Coltrane is somewhere in the house,” he said. Which, of course, he very well might be - now that he can bring his horn along!
~ Brandt Reiter
This article first appeared in All About Jazz: New York. Download our latest issue for an extended monthly calendar, a club guide, interviews, local artist profiles and more!
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5C Cafe
