Halloween Tales New York Performances

“Halloween Tales” at Bar Bayeux frames the holiday as a set of jazz narratives, told in real time by Michael Blake on reeds with Gary Versace, Ben Allison, and Michael Sarin. The group draws on straight-ahead language but keeps the form open, letting episodes slip into freer improvisation and back again. In New York, where seasonal programs often default to repertoire, this kind of original, musician-led suite has a local lineage from downtown loft scenes to today’s neighborhood rooms. One clear virtue is the band’s balance of structure and risk.