Things Are Looking Bright For Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars
R&B, jazz, folk - this NOLA band puts their stamp on all of it, and they’ll be in the 8495 soon
There’s nothing more New Orleans than a musician steeped in the jazz and R&B traditions of the city chilling out in one of its famous cemeteries. Sal Geloso brings his band, Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars, to Daryl’s House in Pawling, NY, next Sunday. (photo courtesy Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars)
Salvatore Geloso - hereafter to be known here as Sally Baby - was not unique in deciding his future lay in New Orleans in the city’s post-Katrina renaissance. Like many talented musicians “from away,” Sally arrived in New Orleans late in the first decade of the new century and began his apprenticeship in the ways of the city’s scene.
But where Sally’s story may indeed be unique, and at the very least takes a compellingly intriguing twist, is that he is descended from a New Orleansian - and the backstory has just enough gaps in it to make it the best kind of mysterious bayou tale.
He had already been living in New Orleans for about 10 years when he noticed an old photo of a Black woman among his grandmother’s keepsakes while back home in the New York metro area. When he asked his grandmother who the woman was, she told him she was his great-great-grandmother; a Creole woman of color who came north and raised a family with her Italian dockworker husband. She was, Sally told 8495Jazz, connected somehow to the Desdunes family, which played a prominent role in setting the foundations of early New Orleans jazz. But, Sally, said, she was a love child, and the connections are kind of foggy beyond that.
One thing is not foggy at all, though. Sally Baby and his band have created a vibe all their own out of traditional New Orleans elements and sounds. You want classic R&B with a little swamp pop tinge? Sure. You want a little folk with some swing? They gots it. Or that spookydukey sound that makes one think the deceased in St. James Infirmary may be getting off their slabs to dance? All there.
They are indeed hard to classify, but they share that very listenable groove of some other bands with horns from the Gulf Coast and Deep South – Kevin Russell’s Shinyribs from Texas, Alabama’s St. Paul and the Broken Bones, and another hard-to-pigeonhole/easy to listen to band from New Orleans, King James and the Special Men.
And that sound is getting noticed nationwide. They finished on the podium in the 2024 NPR Tiny Desk Concert contest. They’ve played the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (not a slam dunk gig to get, even for local bands). They’ll be at SXSW in Austin in March.
And they’ll be at Daryl’s House Club in Pawling, NY, a week from today at 7 pm. All the cool kids will be there.
All the attention, Sally said, is a confirmation his New Orleans journey is one he has navigated well. From days of hard lessons after he first moved to town – “The city really schooled me, really humbled me; I remember wanting to throw my guitar in the river” – to fully ensconcing himself as both a performer and historical jazz tour guide who loves to go deep in his subject, he is savoring where he’s at right now.
“It definitely feels like we are peering over the edge now and there is this window opening up,” he said. “I’ve been developing my voice as an artist, and I almost feel like I’ve been waiting for this moment to really show people who I am and what I have to say. So there is this pressure where there’s a lot to do, but I’m lucky to have a team of people performing in this band.
“As much as I’m the creative and artistic pinnacle of the band, it’s really coming together with all these guys that makes it all possible. Everyone is lifting up together. So many of us in the group are so connected to the city and the day-to-day, the people here. We have so much hometown encouragement, so many people are rooting for us. It’s like everybody who wants to see us succeed is living vicariously through these opportunities coming our way.”
To illustrate this sense of rooting for them, in a highly entertaining comment on one of their YouTube videos, a New Orleans parent gave the band the thumbs up as only a New Orleans parent could: “im in love with this band. my kid was playin with the sax player on fnite and he was being all flirty tryin to impress her sayin ‘im in a band’ and the band is actually dope.”
One can’t help but wonder what his great-great-grandmother, almost lost to memory, might think of her descendant making the city his own and sharing his art.
“I could always sing and play jazz, I always had a natural ability toward that,” Sally said. “I never knew how I connected into the New Orleans music story. It’s strange that I just naturally had this ability for this music, but it wasn’t until I was here that I really got to know it.”
A little mini-concert from Sally Baby’s Silver Dollars demonstrating the band’s range.
Out and About with 8495Jazz
These listings are a curated sampling of shows in the region. As an independent resource for jazz news, 8495Jazz does not receive any consideration, free tickets, or affiliate fees for these listings. Please confirm events are still happening directly with the venue.
8495Jazz Wild Card Gig of the Week
Hartford Public Library, Hartford, CT
Baby Grand Jazz is back, baby! The hallmark Sunday jazz series is back for its 22nd season starting today. Concerts will be held at HPL’s downtown library, 500 Main St., Sunday afternoons at 3:00 p.m. through April, excluding Easter Sunday on April 5. Performances will take place in the library’s Center for Contemporary Culture. Doors open at 2 p.m., and each concert lasts about an hour. Shows will also be streamed on Hartford Public Library’s Facebook and YouTube pages. Today’s artist is the Iftah Kary Trio. Click the link for the full series lineup.
8495Jazz Spur of the Moment Gig TODAY
Ben Shaw Quartet/jam session, 6 pm. All agres, GA $10, jammers $5.
Other Upcoming Shows
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA
Benito Gonzalez, Lenny White, Buster Williams Trio (piano, combo), Friday, Jan. 9, 7:30 pm. GA $53.43, student $41.79 including service fee.
Elicit Brewing Co., Manchester, CT
Hartford Jazz Orchestra, Monday, Jan. 5, 7:30 pm. Free.
Jazz on Main, Mt. Kisco, NY
Tony Davis Jessamine release show, (guitar, combo), Friday, Jan. 9, 7 pm. Advance show only $25 plus service fee, dinner and show $106 plus service fee.
The Side Door, Old Lyme, CT
Gary Smulyan/Frank Basile “The Boss Baritones” (bari sax X2, combo), Saturday, Jan. 10, 8 pm. GA $59.75, student $27.98, including service fee.
Scullers, Boston, MA
Isaiah J. Thompson (piano), Friday, Jan. 9, 7 pm. GA $42.45 - $64.85 including service fee.
VFW Post 399, Westport, CT
Andy Gravish and Greg Wall remember Chet Baker and Stan Getz (trumpet, sax, combo), Thursday, Jan. 8, 7:30 and 8:45 pm. GA $20.76, student/vet $15.76 for 7:30 show, GA $10.76 for 8:45 show.
Jazz Forum Arts, Tarrytown, NY
Mike LeDonne Groover Quintet (organ, combo), Friday, Jan. 9 and Saturday, Jan. 10, 7 and 9:30 pm. GA $37.75, student $32.50 including service fee.
If you’re citybound…
Winter Jazzfest, New York City, Jan. 8-13. Full artist lineup including venues here.
Jams
Cafe Nine, New Haven CT
New Haven Jazz Underground jam, usually 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month: free admission
Saturday jazz jam most Saturdays, 4 pm. Free.
Blackeyed Sally’s, Hartford, CT
Jazz Wednesdays, featured set 7 pm, jam session afterward.
Carmine’s, East Hartford, CT
Paisley’s All Star Memorial Jam, 2nd Tuesday of the month, 7:30 pm. House band set followed by jam. Free.
Mahoney’s, Poughkeepsie, NY
Poughkeepsie Jazz Project, every Tuesday, 7 pm. Free.
Park City Music Hall, Bridgeport, CT
Scott Cushman and Friends followed by jam, first Wednesday of the month.
Jazz Societies and Organizations (great info on events, festivals, and more)
Jazz Society of Fairfield County
Jazz Fridays at Three Sheets New Haven 1st/3rd Fridays from 6-9pm
Jazz Thursdays at The Cannon New Haven every other Thurs from 7-9pm.
8495Jazz takes its name from the two Interstate highways that cross our region, I-84 and I-95. Within short driving distances from either, you can find incredible entertainment, from local jams to world-famous festivals in New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts. 8495Jazz: From Newburgh to Newport!
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