Painted Betty easily fills New York's niche for Spanish funk-jazz music

Have you noticed the absence of French-speaking cowboy salsa bars around New York? Me too, and fortunately the brave eclecticism of the musical group Painted Betty is worthy of filling this niche with all of the Spanish funk-jazz groovin’ you could ask for.

The Dixon Place’s tiny, audience-level stage displays a clutter of instruments scattered across the table like a bunch of almost-fitting puzzle pieces. Behind three microphone stands, an acoustic guitar and upright bass convey Painted Betty’s country roots, while the pair of drum brushes and tenor saxophone hint toward a jazzier, or even a more klezmer side as well. The crate of miscellaneous percussion instruments is a little more subtle in its manifestation of the group’s Latin influences, which eventually come through in the form of singer Sonia Ryzy-Ryski’s sexy salsa moves during the opening number.

Both female singers, Madsen and Ryzy-Ryski, bring their own brand of sex-appeal to the stage. However, their hip-swings and finger-snaps appear stiff and far less natural than the jumps and squirms of sax/clarinet player, David Rothenberg, whose spontaneous choreography only compliments his role as the group’s primary improviser. Through almost every single tune, regardless of style, this philosophy professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology maintains superb control over his instrument while soloing and, more impressively, while playing around the vocalists too.

“Jazz [is] the kind of music I was raised on,” says drummer Eric Starr while sitting around a pre-performance bar table with a few other band mates. Singer Deb Madsen explains that while she herself does not hold the same passion for straight-ahead jazz, respecting each band member’s varied influence is what has really allowed their sound to develop.

Along with the sometimes-distorted acoustic rock styles of guitarist Tim Hall (whom you may also recognize from his work as a NASA scientist), Madsen carries Painted Betty’s warm country soul. “I need somethin’ with tenderness” she chuckles into the mic while introducing another tune, soon to be closed with an exaggerated “Yeehaw!”

Moving “a little bit further south,” Ryzy-Ryzki sings in Spanish and sways to the bow of bassist Andrew Hall in the Uruguayan classic, “La Cumparsita,” and the trend of non-English lyrics is later picked up again by Hall’s French love song “Spirits and Bones.” Whether in English or not, the recurring theme of dark lyrics seems almost out of place in such a musically upbeat set. Then again, every element of Painted Betty seems out of place, and it is this eclecticism that sets them apart from all of New York’s other other tango-dancing, clarinet-shredding, country bass-thumpin,’ sextets.

Painted Betty performs “Dirty Little Secret”