Jazzville, NJ

Vince Giordano & His Nighthawks To Grace Small Screen

Posted by D.A. Gutierrez in Commentary, Jazz Events, News

September 13th, 2010   3 Comments »

Sorry for the lack of posts lately, folks. Things have been a little hectic with the work situation. You know – the gig that brings in the cash. Anyway, I was doing my daily sniffing around the interwebs for NJ jazz-related topics, and my eyes just about popped out of my head when I started reading what I thought would be a review of this past Saturday’s performance by Vince Giordano & His Nighthawks at the New Jersey Jazz Society’s annual Princeton JazzFeast. But before any mention of the show was made, the author springs quite a surprise on us.

If you’re not familiar with Vince, he heads up one of my favorite swing-era bands. I first found out about his group from the soundtrack to the movie “Ghost World” starring Thora Birch and a young (and-not-yet-corrupted) Scarlett Johansson as angst-filled teenagers who stalk and ultimately befriend Seymour, a hermit-like jazz record collector, played by the inimitable Steve Buscemi. If you haven’t seen the film, I highly recommend it. Though it’s more about the teenagers and their coming of age than it is about the jazz, there are some great songs and some memorable scenes.

OK back to the surprise:  HBO has selected Vince & his band to play a dance band in the upcoming Prohibition-era series “Boardwalk Empire” set in 1920′s Atlantic City, right here in New Jersey! How cool is that? Congrats to Vince! He has been around for ages and certainly deserves a great gig like this. Oh, and in another interesting coincidence, Steve Buscemi who starred in “Ghost World” also plays the main character in “Boardwalk Empire.”

All these multi-layered interconnections of jazz, New Jersey, Steve Buscemi and Vince & the Nighthawks should be enough to keep you entertained for a while.