100 Days Of Jazz Brings NoFo Into Springtime

By Stacy Dermont

It’s understatement to say that the pandemic affected how we work. Certain groups — including performers and food professionals — were particularly hard-hit by the curtailment of gatherings. They had to tap their imaginations to envision some silver linings and survive in their respective industries.

As sure as spring follows winter, the creatives at work inside Sound View Greenport are finding new and different approaches to providing the entertainment and comfort we all crave.

At Sound View, on County Road 48 just west of Greenport Village, a unique performance series — “100 Days of Jazz” — kicked off last month.

This new jazz residency program is so named because it will feature 10 artists for 10 days each.

100 Days of Jazz is a continuation of the hotel’s Kulture Collective platform’s artist-in-residency “Uncommon Sound” program. The mission is to bring diverse talents to the property in celebration of self-expression and individuality. And to have a great time doing it.

The first featured performers — The Kidwell Sisters — Lauren and Hannah Rose Kidwell — are classically trained singers and actors. They first performed one evening here in August at the Sound View’s annual Beach Ball, which Hannah Rose Kidwell found “so Long Island, and so beautiful!”

The Kidwells’s 10 days at the property were from January 25 through February 3. Though a bomb cyclone blizzard struck during their only weekend of performances, these Californians were “really looking forward to seeing snow on the beach,” Lauren Kidwell said before the storm.

“We have a quarter mile of beach,” noted Erik Warner, co-founder of Eagle Point Hotel Partners, which owns and operates the Sound View and Greenport’s Harborfront Inn. “The property has its own rhythm. It allows guests multiple layers of engagement with Sound View and opens the mind to more readily connect,” to commune with nature and each other.

The Collective took an interesting approach to booking talent for this residency series — hotel staff went into New York City and scoured the streets and subways in search of great buskers. They focused on performers who’d made radical career adjustments during the pandemic.

Chosen groups practice in and around the Sound View’s expansive property all week. Each Friday and Saturday during their 10-day residency, the musicians perform in the hotel’s Piano Bar from 7 to 9 p.m.

Of course jazz isn’t new to Greenport — the late virtuoso vibraphonist Theodore Charles Cohen — well-known as Teddy Charles — made his home there for many years.

The Sound View Greenport is uniquely situated to host a residency program. As the largest hotel in the area, the musicians can move around and find their practice niches, while the Piano Bar provides a performance space.

“We really appreciate what the Sound View and the Kulture Collective is doing — giving to burgeoning young artists from the streets who need to create a beautiful environment in which to do it,” said Hannah Rose Kidwell. “I was sitting outside on the rocks; the sun was shining. It was so incredibly peaceful I was struck by the simplicity of the tide — of life —washing in and out.”

The Kidwells used their residency to produce a series of videos viewable under the hashtag #seasideseries on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Facebook. Lauren Kidwell edited the performances which sometimes feature the sisters singly, sometimes together in matching outfits, with Long Island Sound behind them.

When the pandemic halted their careers, Hannah Rose Kidwell moved to New York to join her older sister Lauren, so they could start working together for the first time, full-time. Beginning in October 2020, they made the corner at East 17th Street and Broadway their stage by setting up stand microphones and dressing in vintage-inspired, feminine outfits. (So, yes, they have performed “on Broadway.”)

The women grew up “very poor,” with two other singing sisters, outside Los Angeles, California. The duo’s street-side repertoire includes a wide array of the songs they grew up listening to — opera, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and perhaps the world’s most famous busker, Edith Piaf.

Of course they often sing “Sisters,” made famous by Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen in the 1954 film “White Christmas;” as well as the Kander and Ebb classic “New York, New York!” A balm to their fellow New Yorkers is their rendition of 1929’s “Happy Days Are Here Again!”

Expect to see these two beauties in their signature red lipstick on many other stages soon. They paint it on to connect with the spirit of the women who got our country through World War II — they wear it to signify that they are “strong and tough.”

Certainly their voices are strong and powerful. Right after their Sound View residency, Lauren Kidwell was off to perform in a production of “The Sound of Music” out west, while Hannah Rose Kidwell returned to New York. She’ll continue to sing in her church, Movement NYC Church, and plans to resume a theatrical career. As her big sister Lauren Kidwell says, “Theater is coming back!”

The next set of resident performers, who spent from February 6 to 15 at the Sound View, were Harlem-based keyboardist Sammy Buttons and saxophonist Bernell Jones. The pair met in New York in 2020 and started to perform together, often busking at a busy subway station entrance.

In addition to soulful comping, Buttons produces back-up drumbeats and bass lines from his keyboard to Jones’s commanding sax riffs.

A fourth generation piano/keyboard player, following in the footsteps of his great-grandfather, grandfather and father, Buttons began performing in the 1980s, but kept a day job running a courier business.

When the pandemic hit, Buttons realized he could make a living playing music, and as the city began to reopen, he chose to stick to that creative path.

It’s often said that chefs, farmers, and musicians are “the same kind of crazy” — they work hard to share their gifts. While the pandemic sparked a lot of change, the Sound View’s “resident artist” Executive Chef Stephan Bogardus is inspired by the environment every day.

Of course, listening to talented musicians can make people hungry. At this time of year, Bogardus is focused on preparing “the best local shellfish, as well as swordfish, cod, and a hearty clam chowder.” Diners during the 100 Days of Jazz may enjoy Southold’s Deep Roots Farm celery root puréed alongside a dry-aged duck breast from Aquebogue’s Crescent Duck Farm, or monkfish caught off Montauk confited and served with a rainbow of local cauliflower.

“This is an awesome way to really be able to connect through food and culture,” said Bogardus.

The Sound View plans to announce the next three performers in the residency lineup soon. Find the Sound View Greenport’s calendar of performers — and its menus — at soundviewgreenport.com. Sound View Greenport is at 58775 County Road 48 in Greenport.

Stacy Dermont is co-author, with Hillary Davis, of The Hamptons Kitchen (W.W. Norton & Co.), a cookbook, and guide to the East End. More info on stacydermont.com.