A Club Is Always More Than A Club
Michael Figge Group omits the definite article at The Mad Monkfish on Thursday, 5 June 2025.
Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix
〰️
Hump Nights
〰️
Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️ Hump Nights 〰️
Hump Nights
〰️
Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix
〰️
Hump Nights 〰️ Ace the Quiz, Win the Tix 〰️
Michael Figge Group
A club is always more than a club. It’s also the beginning of a thousand and one human stories of heartfelt yearning and grievous disappointment. Last Thursday we got a “feel good” story at The Mad Monkfish in the form of a half dozen young jazz musicians, stretching their wings, and learning how to fly.
The evening’s entertainment was the Michael Figge Group, a rangy bunch, led by the namesake bandleader and bassist through a set of bracing arrangements and rearrangements of standards. Not one of them looked old enough to vote. A pair of trumpets and a pair of saxophones shined up front while the piano, bass, and percussion set the pace in back.
The young musicians held the stage with a confidence and poise beyond their years. They were no strangers to the club, having cut their teeth at the open jam sessions held every weekend at the Central Square spot. In fact, the night’s emcee revealed in his windup before the show that Michael Figge had been frequenting the club since he was fourteen, soaking in the atmosphere and learning by osmosis before he ever got a chance to perform. Fortunately, you don’t have to show ID to enjoy a plate of sushi at the club-cum-restaurant.
The emcee shared at least one other nugget (in addition to the shopworn, entirely believable, and rarely disputed claim that The Mad Monkfish is neither a “church” nor a “library”): namely, that the bassist Michael Figge, who had come of age as a jazz musician in the club through his own efforts and the opportunities afforded him by their stage, was headed off to study at Juilliard at summer’s end. As he shared the news the emcee’s face lit up with a proud and paternal glow that announced to the whole room that “one of our own” was getting called up to the majors.
A club is always more than a club. Sometimes it’s an incubator ready to hatch great things. I hear New York City is beautiful in the fall.
Photo Gallery
Michael Figge Group omits the definite article at The Mad Monkfish.