Live at Smalls

That’s Frank Lacy giving it everything he’s got last night at the Manhattan jazz club Smalls in the West Village. He led a septet of — also seen here — Nicoletta Manzini (saxophone), Felix Moseholm (bass), and Brian Simontacchi (trombone), plus Mike Lee (saxophone), Miki Yamanaka (piano), and Wen-Ting Wu (drums). Wu was a standout, maybe because the show leaned on Lacy’s time with Art Blakey’s band, and Blakey was, himself, a drummer. Moseholm seemed familiar, and only later did I realize he was in a Brad Mehldau trio video (with drummer Jorge Rossy) from October 2024 that I’ve watched on repeat on YouTube. The full video of the septet show is on the club’s website.