society pages
THE CAFE SOCIETY GLIDE THROUGH IRVING BERLIN’S “CHANGE PARTNERS”
Songplode
The Café Society have always understood standards as living things: songs that can still blush, still sway, still find a new angle under the light. On their new single, Change Partners, the veteran New York jazz quintet takes Irving Berlin’s elegant dance-floor lament and turns it into a bossa nova that feels cool to the touch, but never distant. Released on the song’s 88th anniversary, it arrives with the poise of a group that knows exactly how to enter a room and how to make the air shift once they’re inside.
“RAVISHING … MAGNETIC … ‘CHANGE PARTNERS’ IS A FANTASTIC INTERPRETATION OF THE IRVING BERLIN JAZZ STANDARD.”
Obscure Sound
The Café Society‘s “Change Partners” is a bossa-nova interpretation of the Irving Berlin standard, released on its 88th anniversary. The NYC jazz quintet, led by tenor saxophonist Justin Flynn and vocalist Emily Wade Adams, adds a custom vocal intro/outro, with Flynn’s saxophone evoking the classic Getz/Gilberto tradition.
“AN ALL-STAR NEW YORK CITY RHYTHM SECTION”
All About Jazz
“This is a STUNNING track … A high water mark!” —RL Productions
Seventy years ago this May, Frank Sinatra recorded Nelson Riddle's arrangement of "Blame It On My Youth" with the Hollywood String Quartet. In 2023, Sean Hayes won a Tony Award portraying the song's composer, Oscar Levant, in Broadway's Good Night Oscar. In a moment that could later be categorized as foreshadowing, The Cafe Society played that production's opening night party.
“ELEGANT, HEARTFELT, AND BEAUTIFULLY RESTRAINED”
Foxfire Magazine
The Café Society’s new single “Blame It On My Youth,” is a classy revision of the beloved 1934 standard that sounds newly alive. The song is about looking back at past emotional decisions and attributing them to youthful carelessness. The arrangement is expressive, allowing every note to breathe with warmth and meaning. There is a fragility to the vocal performance that takes us into memories of innocence, regret, and youthful mistakes. Finally, elegant, heartfelt, and beautifully restrained, this version stays with you long after the last note.
“A TRULY HIGH-LEVEL JAZZ PRODUCTION”
LoFi Cult
A truly high-level jazz production with outstanding musicianship across the board. The 3/4 reimagining is handled with great taste, and the dialogue between voice and tenor saxophone is especially refined — musical, responsive, and full of nuance. The vocal performance shows excellent control, phrasing, and stylistic confidence, and the instrumental support is equally strong, delivering depth, swing, and harmonic sophistication. The overall production and mix are pristine and clearly reflect a very high professional standard.
Artistically, this is a beautiful and accomplished jazz interpretation that would shine in focused listening environments, concert settings, or jazz-centric playlists where the performance itself is meant to be front and center … we genuinely appreciate the level of craft, musical dialogue, and production excellence behind this release.
NAUSET GRAD RETURNS HOME WITH JAZZ QUINTET
The Cape Cod Chronicle
This August, a hometown voice returns to the Cape — not just to perform, but to premiere something brand new.
From Aug. 7 to 9, Eastham native and Nauset Regional High School graduate Emily Wade Adams will take the stage at the Cotuit Center for the Arts, leading her NYC-based jazz quintet, The Café Society, in a three-night run celebrating the release of their debut album. It’s the first stop of their album release tour, and for Adams, an especially meaningful one…
CONCERT WILL FEATURED NEW INTERPRETATIONS OF FAMILIAR JAZZ DUOS
The Falmouth Enterprise
Emily Wade Adams will return to the Cape with her New York City-based jazz quintet, The Café Society, from Thursday through Saturday, August 7, 8 and 9, at the Cotuit Center for the arts.
Led by vocalist Adams and saxophonist Justin Flynn, the performances will include fresh interpretations of jazz’s most-legendary duos and will celebrate the release of the group’s debut album…
JAZZ BAND PAYS TRIBUTE TO NANCY WILSON IN PLYMOUTH SHOW
The Patriot Ledger
Emily Wade Adams said she was just a little stunned and mostly intrigued when her friend and bandmate Justin Flynn loaned her an old record, the 1962 Capitol Records release “Nancy Wilson and Cannonball Adderley” and added a warning. “If you don’t like this album,” said Flynn, “I might have to stop being your friend.”
That was the genesis for a new program Café Society has been doing…