By Sue Finn
Bill’s Seafood Allstars Fridays 7pm to 9pm
at Bill’s Seafood Restaurant, 548 Boston Post Rd, Westbrook, CT 06498
(860) 399-7224 www.billsseafood.com
January 22, 2016
Bill Sinclair piano, leader
Tom Boates trombone, vocals
Noel Kaletsky reeds
Lou Bocciarelli bass
Tom Palinko drums
Every Friday evening Bill’s Seafood presents their Allstars, a band made up of very talented local musicians. They play mostly Dixieland along with some swing and other types of jazz with occasional surprises from various other genres thrown in. There is always a full house at Bill’s with many regular fans.
Every performance is exciting and tonight’s was no exception. It started with a rousing rendition of Canal Street Blues, followed by Little Girl, then Tom Boates vocal on St. James Infirmary Blues. Tom also sang Dr. Jazz later in the program. He’s the frontman for the band and plays a mean trombone.
The Allstars have several Wilbur de Paris numbers in their repertoire and usually play at least one. Tonight it was the fast and furious Tres Moutarde.
Noel was featured on I Got Rhythm and, on the soprano sax, in a beautiful rendition of When Day is Done. He also played back and forth with Tom Palinko’s drums on the final number of the evening, one of the group’s standards which always gets wild applause from the audience, Duke Ellington’s Caravan.
The audience also participated – clapping, waving napkins, etc – on a rousing version of Bourbon Street Parade. All the musicians get plenty of solo spots during most of the numbers, Bill’s piano and Lou’s bass are always great and everybody loves Tom’s drum solos.
![soprano sax, string bass, drum, trombone, piano](https://i0.wp.com/www.nejazz.com/Wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/All-Stars.jpg?resize=503%2C283&ssl=1)
Noel’s sax, Lou Bocciarelli, Tom Palinko, Tom Boates trombone, and leader Bill Sinclair behind piano.
As always, we all enjoyed the evening. The band is wonderful and the food is excellent.
The Allstars will be making a special appearance on Tuesday, Feb 9th for a Mardi Gras Celebration. It will start early, from 6:30 to 9:30, with the band playing from 7pm – 9pm. Bill’s is NOT taking reservations for the Mardi Gras party. Just come as if it were a Friday. There will be a variety of food items associated with New Orleans cooking which will be incorporated into Bill’s regular menu.