On most Thursday nights, patrons and passersby can hear the unmistakable sounds of jazz wafting out of Sam's Pizza, one of the newer businesses to acquire a Main Street, Northampton address (and perhaps one of the few who've demonstrated staying power thus far, with a tasty selection of gourmet pizzas). Until last week, an open mic, facilitated by SunIsAllWeNeed (a.k.a. guitarist Zack Danziger), was the cause of this infusion of jazz into the downtown ether. However, because there's another open mic on Fridays at Sam's, Danziger has decided to switch its programming.
"It's redundant to have [an open mic] on Thursday," said Danziger in a recent interview with the Advocate. "Mark's thing [the Friday open mic is hosted by Mark Firehammer] is much more loosey-goosey and unprofessional. What I'm noticing is that jazzers don't like going to open mics, so I'm changing the focus, which might exclude some amateurs, but it might attract some highbrow people."
The upcoming Thursday lineup includes keyboardist Joel Martin and singers Barbara Ween and Jessica Freeman.
If you're looking for the chance to hear tunes by unknown musicians, however, head to Sam's on Friday, when musicians of all stripes grace the stage (well, actually it's the corner).
"Friday nights in here are just really something else," said owner and namesake Sam Harbey as he showed me where the musicians set up. Besides the wide array of musical offerings, Sam's has another element that adds to its appeal: fantastic service.
Danziger also offers eight-track recording, and Firehammer streams performances live starting at 8 p.m. on www.markfirehammer.org.
