‘The Return of the Down and Dirty Lounge’
Featuring Lex Grey on Vocals and Albert Garzon on Piano
Sunday May 22nd, 2-5pm (Gallery opens at 1pm)
Holland Tunnel Newburgh
46 Chambers Street
Newburgh, NY 12550
Free and Open to the Public, in conjunction with the exhibition 'Holland Tunnel Celebrates 25 years’.
Brooklyn and Catskill based Blues Hall of Fame Inductee Lex Grey teams up with Pianist Albert Garzon to bring their infamous ‘Down and Dirty Lounge’ act to Newburgh, NY, with 2 sets of piano rags, standards and blues.
The Down and Dirty Lounge was born in 1998 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, when pianist, musical archivist and neighbor Albert Garzon asked Blues singer and songwriter Lex Grey to sing a standard together. From jazz lounges on the Brooklyn waterfront to west village cabarets, Lex and Albert took their unique interpretation of piano rags, standards and blues to enthusiastic audiences. Swept up into the burlesque revival, Lex Grey was the singing narrator for the Ixion Burlesque, a reinterpretation of its 1860s counterpart, played and penned by Albert.
Their iconic Down and Dirty Lounge show was called " Better than Broadway " by Time Out NY . Downtown Magazine raved " a roaring step back in time, a thrilling glimpse of the future. Lex Grey and Albert Garzon transcend time, space and convention.
Albert Garzon is from Newburgh, NY. (NFA Class of '78). As a child he studied piano with John Gigliotti and then, Robert Guralnick. After graduating from NFA he attended SUNY Fredonia where he studied Music Composition and Sound Technology. While still a student at Fredonia, Garzon produced an album by the group 10,000 Maniacs that became a Gold Record called "Hope Chest". He moved to NYC in 1984, eventually taking over a loft in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 1989. Garzon founded a record label called "Community 3" and continued producing underground punk and indie bands throughout the 1990's.
In 1998 he teamed up with Williamsburg-based vocalist, Lex Grey, to form a blues act called "The Down and Dirty Lounge". With Lex, Garzon performed weekly at the legendary Williamsburg pub, The Right Bank, until the pub closed in 2005. In 2003 he became involved in New York's growing burlesque scene when he founded "Ixion Burlesque". "Ixion" also starred Lex Grey, and presented old-school burlesque shows based on stories from Greek Mythology. Their remake of the 1868 burlesque, "Ixion or the Man at the Wheel", opened at the Tank Theater on 42nd Street in 2004, and had an impressive run. The Ixion troupe was active until 2011.
In 2012 Garzon moved to the Philippine island of Bohol where he currently lives with his wife and son, Albert III. He continues to play piano and make recordings of 'forgotten' music of the past, including his recent album of Christmas songs entitled "Lost Christmas Melodies”.
If you follow the 'Remembering Newburgh' Facebook page, you will undoubtedly have read some of Albert Garzon's frequent posts. From the origin of Newburgh's name, to famous composers, artists, architects that contributed to Newburgh's rich history, Garzon regales the reader with interesting and well researched articles. One of his main interests as a musician is to research and resurrect forgotten 'turn-of-the-century' Newburgh composers and their music and record the songs for posterity.
In recent projects, Mr. Garzon has teamed with historian Joe Santacroce (Historical Society of Newburgh Bay and the Highlands member) for the videos such as 'Early Newburgh in Color' and 'Newburgh in Postcards', in which Garzon provided the music.
New York singer-songwriter and Blues Hall of Fame Inductee Lex Grey seems to have a singular ability to discombobulate critics and listeners alike. She has been described as "Mae West on a Harley", the Madam of Urban Blues and the whip wielding mistress of modern blues. Lex Grey headlined the house bands in New York City's most iconic clubs from CBGBs to Lone Star Roadhouse, Wetlands, Webster Hall, China Club and beyon