We finally made it on over to The Jalopy Theater in Red Hook Monday night to see what Tony Scherr is up to these days. Tony seems to be playing around town (Brooklyn and Manhattan) constantly and is a session musician as well, having played with the likes of Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Norah Jones, and Ana Egge. For this night Tony played guitar, as he usually does, with Rob Jost on stand up bass and Anton Fier on drums. This line up quickly answered the question, can you be a power trio with a stand up bass, in the affirmative. Starting with a song for Valentines Day (a couple of days late), Tony went on to play songs from his catalog, some covers and even a new number or two. There were crunchy guitar parts, slide work, extended jams and some more introspective numbers (including a final song for which Tony unplugged his electric guitar).

At one point Tony said that he had trouble keeping track of time. Perhaps that’s the reason he played for two hours straight. Or perhaps the reason is that Tony wasn’t worried about getting home. He mentioned that he lives just down the block. Tony’s Monday night gig at Jalopy is a residence. It’s going to be ongoing and based on tonight’s show, it’ll be worth your while to catch Tony at this comfortable club.
—Eliot Wagner