Photo by Andrew Blackstein
Last night, Cyro Baptista celebrated his 75th birthday with the first of two shows at New York’s Jazz at Lincoln Center. Held in the famed venue’s grand Rose Theater, the performance, dubbed Cyro Baptista at 75: A Banquet for the Spirits, provided an overview of the Brazil percussionist’s singular career, nodding to his solo work and dance-drum ensemble Beat the Donkey, as well as his contributions to the extended  Downtown jazz, Latin, jam, pop and African-music communities. Longtime collaborators Trey Anastasio and Hassan Hakmoun both made special appearances while musicians Shanir Ezra Blumenkranz, Jason Fratticelli, John Lee, Felipe Hostins, Carlos Eduardo da Costa, Zé Luis, John Altieri, Junior Karegato, Scott Kettner, Sofija Knezevic, and dancers Max Pollak and Chikako Iwahori served as part of the event’s large ensemble.
Anastasio emerged near the end of the night’s second set, after Baptista led the house band through the intro section of the modern Phish staple “Blaze On.” The evening’s honoree then told the story of how he initially met Anastasio when they both sat in with Medeski Martin & Wood in 2000, before bringing out the guitarist to lead the performers through the rest of the tune. (Anastasio teased a bit of “Happy Birthday” while looking at Baptista at the conclusion of the cut.)

The Phish founder then switched to acoustic guitar and joined Baptista for a duo take on “Ray Dawn Balloon,” a track from the 2002 Trey Anastasio album that features the percussionist and also appears in a different format as “Radon Balloon” on the lone Oysterhead LP. Of note, before playing an acoustic version of the song this spring, Anastasio had not played “Ray Dawn Balloon” live since 2002. The rest of the night’s band then filtered back to the stage for a big-band run through “Olivia,” a Trey Anastasio Band number credited to Anastasio and Baptista in the evening’s program. 

Anastasio proceeded to leave the stage while the rest of the night’s core players closed the set with “Maracatu – Estrela Brilhant,” but he returned with the entire cast and Hakmoun for the encore of “Forro for All,” the Baptista original that TAB played a few times in 2002 but has not performed since. Bringing the evening to a climax, the tune slid into an instrumental version of “Tweezer Reprise” part way through that brought a Phish energy to the New York institution.

Jazz at Lincoln Center will host another Baptista celebration this evening, with singer Cassandra Wilson and drummer Brian Marsella serving as special guests. Please click here to read our conversation with Baptista in the weekend-long festivities.