It might be cold outside, but on any given Sunday evening there’s a lot of warmth to be found at Tio Pepe in Greenwich Village.
Located on West 4th Street, the eatery has been serving the community since 1970, when husband-and-wife team Rocio and Jimmy Sanz opened the Spanish restaurant. Lately, they’ve added some music to the mix, with a special end-of-the-weekend jazz session that brings together a diverse variety of music lovers.
The evening begins at six, with bandleader Rick Bogart on clarinet putting in a set with Jon B. Roche on acoustic bass and Marc Daine on guitar. Once they’ve warmed up, the singers — and some players — begin to take turns on the mic, singing mostly standards. The guests, many of whom come back every week, range from 27-year-old Caroline Cooke to the not-quite 98-year-old John Dentato.
“I know a lot of the singers,” Bogart informs us. “Almost all of them are my friends. But we’re very accommodating. We keep it friendly – everyone is welcome.”
There’s no sign-up sheet, like at a typical open mic night, as it’s up to Bogart who gets to sit in. Not wanting to leave anyone out, the band has been playing an extra hour for free to give everyone a chance.
“My job,” Bogart says, “is to see that they leave with a good feeling about themselves, about life and about people.”
The participants have varied backgrounds, from Richard Weinstein, who wrote and starred in an Off-Broadway show about Sinatra; to singing lawyers; to 90 year-old Sybil Evans; to some Broadway veterans; and to Dentato, the man with the longest resume.
He started out in a high school band and went on to play in the pit for almost four years in Ann Corio’s burlesque show on 2nd Avenue and 12th Street in the East Village. “I played for all the greatest strippers!” he recalls.
Dentato’s career has included stints in a Navy band, weddings, bar mitzvahs, coaching Judy Garland on her performances, an extended gig at the Waldorf Astoria, writing songs for people like Frankie Laine and Connie Francis, recording with Marilyn Monroe and Nat King Cole and transcribing music for two very different composers.
“I worked with Harold Arlen late in his life,” he recalls. “And, a long time ago, Yoko Ono. She would sing, and I would transcribe the music.”
“He’s my favorite!” Rocio Sanz admits about Dentato. “One night, I requested that he sing ‘The Shadow of Your Smile,’ but he didn’t know it. He went home, learned it, practiced it all week, and came back the next Sunday to sing it for me.”
The vivacious Sanz works to provide a “welcoming atmosphere,” chatting with all the performers and generally making everyone feel at home.
“Everyone here supports each other and I want everyone to feel comfortable, even the first-timers,” she says. “I want them all to get the care that they need.”
Sanz notes that Sunday nights have been successful enough that they’ve also talked about doing it on Thursday nights. Although they get a nice crowd, she still feels like “this is one of those best-kept secrets – that we wish wasn’t a secret !”.
A musician herself, Sanz has been taking oboe lessons again — from the same person who taught her in junior high. Admittedly not a singer, she nevertheless ends every session by leading a rousing version of “When The Saints Go Marching In,” with all of the singers and players (and plenty of diners) joining in.
“When you sing from the heart,” she declares, “there are no mistakes.”
For more info, visit Tio Pepe online at tiopepenyc.com and on Instagram at @tiopepenyc.
