NICOLAY & THE HOT AT NIGHTS The Wilmington-based half of N.C. soul-jammers the Foreign Exchange — producer/composer Nicolay — teams up with Raleigh’s exploratory jazz trio The Hot at Nights on this tour. Together they’re re-arranging the smooth Dutchman’s instrumental cuts from his 2010 release, City Lights Vol. 2: Shibuya, inspired by his stay in that Tokyo district. The explorations here may be mild compared to, say, Albert Ayler, but they keep the music to the right side of late-night laid-back grooves and away from the aural wallpaper of smooth jazz. You don’t have to take my word for it, though — you can download The Shibuya Sessions EP for free at www.theforeignexchangemusic.com. $12. The Evening Muse.
This article appears in Jan 24-30, 2012.
