Karen Ponzio Photos
Briana Williams and Cliff Schloss.
As the sun began to set Monday evening, Make Music New Haven hosted an afterparty on the rooftop of the Arts Council building, with five acts and a DJ spinning tunes in celebration of another year of international Make Music Day.
A few of those acts had played earlier at different locations throughout New Haven County — including Fernanda Franco, who had played solo at The League of Women Voters in Hamden at 5 p.m., her first time doing so live and in person, though she also ended up pulling singer/guitarist Cliff Schloss into her set.
DJ QT rocks the roof.
“I got into it,” she said with a smile. “Then I said, ‘Cliff, come play,’ and we jammed on a couple of tunes.” Franco, who is in the band FaTE, said she first started playing solo during the Covid-19 shutdown and “it was great.” It gave her “a reason to practice the keys and guitar.”
At this party she planned on playing solo and backing Schloss and Briana Williams, the organizer of the event for Make Music New Haven, who said Franco’s performance on this rooftop for the Jazz Where? series back in September 2019 inspired this evening’s proceedings.
As DJ QT started off the event with a variety of highly danceable tunes, Rhythm Brewing served a selection of beers next to a table holding a collage in progress — started by Ely Center of Contemporary Art gallery coordinator Maxim Schmidt — that partygoers were encouraged to add to.
Franco was the first to perform. Williams introduced her by saying “if you know, you know, and if you don’t know, you’re about to find out.” Beginning with a cover of Imogene Heap’s “Hide and Seek,” Franco captured the growing crowd’s attention and received their love for her four-song set that included a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy” and an original called “Honey Sugar Baby Love,” which she said she wrote during the shutdown “and I love it.” Soulful, joyful, funky and fresh, Franco left everyone more than sufficiently warmed up for more. “There’s sounds coming, y’all,” she said after her final tune. “Happy Make Music Day!”
The next sounds were made by the trio of Alexis Robbins, Cliff Schloss, and Dylan McDonnell, who Williams introduced as “a treat, so enjoy.” They added a Schloss original with vocals to their set of jazzy covers, including “Armando’s Rhumba” by Chick Corea, but also performed “Pure Imagination,” made famous by Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and made more delightful by bubbles being blown across the stage by a couple of partygoers.
As the duo of Finn Henry and Yexandra Diaz were setting up, Williams took a moment to thank everyone.
“This was in my head,’ and now its happening and you are all here,” she said, to which everyone answered with loud and appreciate cheers. Combining keyboards and spoken word, Henry’s and Diaz’s set began with a taped reading from James Baldwin. Diaz then introduced herself as an “overarching community activist,” listing her many other roles in the community before saying she would “kick it off with a nice piece’ that was an open letter to her daughter, who was present at the event.
The lines “I should have named you Amber so that when you speak, you don’t have to repeat yourself,” and “I should have named you Amber because you are much more precious than a stone,” were only some of the powerful words and images Diaz offered the crowd, which answered with “yes” and cheers at the piece’s completion. “I have no choice but to dance in the inferno,” Diaz stated during their second piece, while Henry’s keyboards built and soared. The duo commanded everyone’s attention for one more piece after that, called “Surrender,” after which Franco said, “I definitely just cried a lot.”
“I am now ready to dance in the inferno,” said Williams as she came to the stage to perform with Schloss, Franco, and Robbins, adding “this is not a performance, it’s an exploration.” The group performed two songs; a James Baldwin reading played between the two, with Williams on vocals. As a child danced along with Robbins, Williams sang the words “Imagination’s been my best friend since I learned to imagine.”
The final act of the evening was the live debut of Dreamvoid, the duo made up of chad springer-browne and Expired Mocha that recently released their first record. As they were setting up, Williams came back to thank her team one by one and to “shout out all of you for being here because this is a really special moment.”
“New Haven on a roof,”” springer-browne yelled before launching into their first song, “$timmy,” which made everyone sway along. By the third song, “Press Play,” the roof top shifted into full-on dance party mode as the duo presented a barrage of highly infectious beats.
“I don’t know how much time we have, but I want to keep going,” springer-browne said after their fourth song, “everything u need & more.” Williams gave them the okay, the crowd responded with cheers, and the music, the movement, and the magic continued just a bit longer.