NYC Ska Orchestra
Joe's Pub425 Lafayette Street, New York 10003
NYC Ska Orchestra brings its 20-piece big-band lineup to Joe’s Pub, playing original compositions and fresh arrangements that join jazz big-band layers to Jamaican ska, mento, rocksteady, reggae and jazz of the 1950s through the 1970s.
The group is led by arranger, trumpeter, singer and educator Kevin Batchelor, with Jamaican percussionist and vocalist Larry MacDonald, drummer Carl Wright, and singers Pallavi Gummalam and Aida Brandies-Hargrove among its featured musicians. Batchelor and MacDonald have recorded or performed with artists including Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Lee “Scratch” Perry, the Skatalites, and Toots & The Maytals.
The stage is set in a converted library space with a striped bar and photos of legends like Leonard Cohen and Amy Winehouse lining the walls. You'll find yourself seated on velvet couches or at candle-lit tables, close enough to hear every note from the back. The sound, engineered by technicians who've worked with John Legend and The Notorious B.I.G., is consistently ranked among the best in New York. Three shows a day, dinner and drinks served throughout, and a menu ranging from Italian small plates to craft cocktails; it's a place where music and conversation flow together, and where both rising stars and legends have made their U.S. debuts.