The Nicole Saphos Band
Ortlieb’s
April 8, 2024
Crammed around a three-person table at Ortlieb’s, I was listing to seven of my pals jokingly critique the “notes” of their house beers and bar snacks when the sound of familiar lyrics turned my attention towards the back of the room:
I spread like strawberries!
I climb like peas and beans.
I’ve been sucking it in so long that I’m bursting at the seams.
We were at Ortlieb’s bar in Northern Liberties to check out the venue’s weekly Monday night live jazz jam. I knew from the refrain — not the arrangement — that musicians were covering “Heavy Balloon” from Fetch the Bolt Cutters, Fiona Apple’s most recent album.
The words, like their author’s name, were food-informed enough to blend right into our gastronomic-analysis of cheddar cheese, whiskey sours, pickles, gin and tonics, meatballs, and green tea shots.
The performers were members of the Nicole Saphos band, including Saphos on bass and vocals with Sean Markey playing electric guitar, Ele Rubenstein on drums, and Daniel Spearman occasionally popping in to improvise some trumpet licks.
Other than the familiar refrain, the song sounded pretty unrecognizable to me. The band broke apart from Apple’s non-stop, bashing lyrics at times to resort to softer vocal harmonies wandering around the song’s chord progressions. In the process, Saphos played up the underlying jazz influence in Apple’s music, turning the tight, harsh song into a space for musical exploration and yearning guitar solos.
After the Apple cover, the group’s set was made up of original songs, including “Doesn’t Do,” “Spinning Room,” “And Only,” and “Keepin’ Eyes.”
Turns out Saphos is a regular at Ortlieb’s, playing the Monday jazz nights at least monthly. Just as Apple was familiar territory to me, it felt like Ortlieb’s was home to Saphos’ group, who played with tight excitement and a determination to push one another to their limits before an audience made up of more drinkers than musicians. When they invited trumpeter Daniel Spearman to play with them, I got the Appley gravel I’m used to, as he flutter-tongued a growling solo which teed up Markey for a sprawling, funky electric shred.
I later learned through a simple Google search that Saphos cites the likes of Fiona Apple, Aimee Mann, Thelonious Monk and the Dirty Projectors (one of my favorite bands) as her top musical influences. Critics have compared her to Regina Spector (not one of my favorites). I felt that much of Saphos’ music, at least as showcased Monday night, aligned more loudly with Spector, composed of lighter lyrics and pop sensibilities as opposed to the often gritty, winding epics that I associate with Apple.
Saphos’ jazz background offered an entirely new experience for an unknowing, wannabe jazz fan like me. I felt the playful sense of joy apparent between the bandmates perhaps undermined the intensity of Apple’s “Heavy Balloon,” which likens life to facing off a Saharan sun squashing the breath out of one’s body and form. It also brought a new, emo-esque, wavering plea to the piece that definitely caught my interest.
While I might have contested the tone chosen to relay that particular cover, the soft and unique interpretation of the song was emblematic of the intricate and hard-headed talent displayed by both Saphos and Apple.
By the end of the song, my crew had polished off a cheese board that my friend Caitlin had earlier likened to “plane food.” Though it looked like water crackers and standard sharp cheddar, Caitlin retracted her earlier comment after trying out the vinegary, pickled carrots and cauliflowers scattered along the tray. “Actually, I’m not mad at this,” she said.
That experience, plus several drinks, was enough to propel Caitlin to order the $6 two-meatball mini sub listed on the bar menu (which she had sworn she would never order at the start of the night).
“This exceeds expectations,” Caitlin said of the sub. “It’s still going,” she cheered as the the sandwich, despite its small size, made two rounds around the group, each of us taking one bite then two as it passed our face. “Still, it’s the perfect bite with a little spice.”
Similarly, I decided, I was definitely not mad at the Nicole Saphos band for paying homage to one of my favorite singer- songwriters. And, like the meatball sub, their genre-fusing set lists exceeded my expectations, handing me an easy introduction into the chaotic improv-driven jamming I’d anticipated before walking into the bar while releasing me into the night feeling satisfied — not “bursting at the seams” or violently existential, like Apple can sometimes be.
NEXT…
Ortlieb’s has live jazz every Monday between 8 and 11 p.m. There’s a comedy open mic on Tuesdays; more open mic on Wednesdays; Karaoke on Saturday; and Sunday they sell hot dogs.
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