Eleven Short Jazz and Folk Tunes, Honed at New York Clubs Like the Bitter End
Eleven compact tunes make up the first album from Phil Lentz, and most of them run under three minutes. Phil Lentz Presents… came out on 28 September 2022, the first of three albums from the New York City songwriter. Lentz plays keyboards in a five-piece band. Dennis Harte plays guitar and Wolfgang Lugomarsini plays bass. Meanwhile, Kevin Gaffney is on drums, and Red Heller sings and plays alto saxophone.
Phil Lentz’s songs sit in the playlist below, and his coverage across our network is gathered on his artist profile. Phil Lentz Presents… reached GetMusic.News through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news desks. Listen to the album, then keep reading.
The third album, Bounce, followed in spring 2026 and reached Spotify on 16 October, so the arc is now complete. That makes this a good moment to start at the beginning.
Who This Album Is For
The album is for listeners who like jazz with a tune they can hum. Lentz describes his writing as original jazz, pop and folk songs, and the track list shows the range. It runs from Bluesy, Gospel and Schumann’s Theme to Icy Cool and Tap Your Toes. Finally, a closing Lullaby, credited to Lentz alone, lasts barely a minute. As a result, the titles promise a set of moods rather than one long mood, and the short running times keep each idea tight.
Some titles point outside jazz entirely. For instance, Schumann’s Theme nods to the Romantic composer Robert Schumann. Summer of ’21, by contrast, dates itself to the year before the album came out. Within one record, then, the writing moves easily between the concert hall, the church and the club.
The band is part of the appeal, too. Harte, Gaffney and Lugomarsini are credited on ten of the eleven tracks, and Heller on three. Heller also takes the lead credit on Where Are All the People, the longest track at four minutes and 25 seconds. In addition, Harte produced the album and arranged the songs with Lentz. So a record like this suits readers who enjoy small-group playing, where every instrument can be heard.
How the Phil Lentz Presents… Series Has Been Received So Far
The early response has built steadily across the series. Phil Lentz Presents… Vol. II followed in November 2024, again with a core of familiar players. Then, in November 2025, the Indie Dock Music Blog reviewed Bebopping Along from that second volume. It called the track a sincere love letter to bebop. It also singled out Richard Philbin’s alto saxophone alongside Lentz’s piano.
That review is useful for new listeners, because it describes the approach that runs through all three records. Lentz writes music that looks back with affection to the classic small-group era. He also gives his band room to play it. The first album sets that template in eleven tracks, while the second and third keep refining it.
The production credits show the same care. The first album was recorded at Studio Mozart in Little Falls and Kaleidoscope Sound in Union City, both in New Jersey. Alex Lipsen mixed it at Russell Street Studios in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, and Tom Hutten of Bionic Mastering mastered it.
Lentz also brings these songs to a live audience. He hones them in workshops at local music clubs, including the Bitter End in Greenwich Village. It is one of New York’s best-known rooms for singer-songwriters. Videos from the band’s recent Bitter End performance are now on YouTube.
The Community Around Phil Lentz Presents… Runs From Greenwich Village Clubs to New York Streetscapes
Music is one part of a wider creative life. On his own site, Philip Lentz also presents himself as a New York City writer and photographer. There, his novels sit alongside photo series of Chelsea, Madison Square Park and New York streetscapes. His X profile adds a long career in words: journalism for Crain’s New York Business and the Chicago Tribune, two novels and speechwriting for Governor Cuomo. The novels are The Corcoran Affair and Murder at City Hall.
The same eye for the city runs through the music. These are songs made by a working New Yorker for listeners who like their jazz close and conversational.
Above all, the community around the records is the band and the rooms they play. Harte, Heller and Lugomarsini play on all three albums. Meanwhile, the drum chair passed from Gaffney to Dave Young, and new saxophonists joined for the later records. The Bitter End gives the songs a home in front of an audience, and Lentz billed his show there on 16 October 2026 as a night of all-original songs.
For a listener arriving now, that continuity is the point: three albums, one circle of players and a clear line from the first record to the newest. On his Bandcamp page, all three albums sit side by side, so listeners can hear the series in order.
Where to Listen and Follow
GetMusic.News’s curator team: “Eleven tracks in under 30 minutes, and not a wasted bar. Phil Lentz Presents… rewards a front-to-back listen, and it shows how much a small band can say inside three minutes.”
Hear Phil Lentz Presents… on Bandcamp. Then explore Phil Lentz Presents… Vol. II on Spotify and Bandcamp, and Bounce on Bandcamp. Follow Phil Lentz on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Instagram, X, Facebook, and his official website.
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