Manny About Town
Joe Donato Grooves in the Grove
Miami musician jams at new eatery

By Manny Meland

Manny Meland and Joe Donato

Guess who’s back doing his Thursday night jazz jam session in the Grove. Joe Donato. Where? Pisco Seafood Bar & Grille on Mary Street.

A bunch of Joe’s fans from the now shuttered Tuscany on Main Highway crowded Pisco’s to welcome Joe and his band back to Coconut Grove. There, Joe, supported by a couple of music teachers from the University of Miami Music School, Gordy Michael on piano and Richard Brooks on drums, rocked the room. Musicians kept coming by all evening to jam with them.

I ran into Donato a few months ago at a benefit concert for ailing fellow musician Howard Moss. After he sang, “You Know What it Means to Miss New Orleans” I complained that I know what it means to miss his jam sessions at the Tuscany.

“They closed the restaurant and went out of business,” he explained. “Watch for my opening at Pisco Peruvian Restaurant in the near future.” Mo Morgan of MoJazz fame e-mailed me the date of Joe’s opening at Pisco’s.

Joe Donato

I got there Thursday before eight, the band’s starting time, and had a nice supper. Joe treated me to the restaurant’s signature drink, a Pisco Sour. Donato is more than a musician. This multi-instrumentalist plays several instruments, sometimes two at a time, (I mean two saxes at a time), and he sings, dances and tells stories. He loves entertaining and his fans pick up his vibes. Mo Morgan sat in with the band. He played his little tenor sax he calls “Nino”. Mike Gillis, who recently returned to Miami after a long absence, joined in with his killer guitar. Wendy Peterson sang an adult lyric she wrote called “My Man Won’t Deliver”. Mike Levine covered the bottom with his big bass and chanteuse Kathleen Donato soothed us with a couple of sweet tunes.

I first met Donato in 1972 at the club Le Jardin at the Miami Airways Inn on LeJeune Road. He was a hot act around the airport district. Back then, this part of town was the happening place. In those days, the Four Bits played across the road at the Miami Skyways. The Miami Sound Machine, led by the Estefans, honed their Latin jazz fusion sound down the street at the Crossroads Hotel and Jimmy Crawford reigned at Brothers Two. Also, Pete Minger, Curtis Fuller and Charlie Mingus, expatriates from the Basie All Stars in New York, commanded the bandstand at the Miami Airport Inn. Even with all this action, you still had to show up early at Le Jardin to squeeze in to see Joe Donato and his perfect foil and fellow musician, the mighty Tinker, do their shtick. Their gig there lasted five years.

Donato’s roots are in Texas. After studying at the University of Houston, Glassboro State Teachers College and Houston Baptist College, he migrated to Miami. Here he obtained a bachelors degree in Studio Music and a masters in Jazz Performance at the University of Miami. He then taught courses at the Academy of Life Long Learning at FIU and at the Institute of Retired Professionals at UM. Then in 2005, Professor Donato began teaching the History of Jazz and Pop at Miami Dade Community College, Kendall Campus and became conductor of the school’s jazz band.

Richard Brooks on drums, Mike Gilis on guitar and Joe Donato

At Pisco’s, I sat through two very enjoyable sets. The session was reminiscent of the old Tuscany Restaurant where musicians always dropped in to jam. South Florida jazz icon Ira Sullivan sat in so often, he was almost a part of the band. Like the Tuscany, it’s all up close and intimate

Good music, good fun, good food and good parking—don’t miss it.

Pisco Seafood Bar & Grille is located at 3310B Mary St. in Coconut Grove. For more information, call 305-443-9222. For more information on Joe Donato, visit www.joedonatomusic.com.

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