11:14 PM CDT on Saturday, August 21, 2004

By MATT WEITZ / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

Gentrification continued Saturday night with the second of a two-night engagement at the Brooklyn Jazz Cafe, centered not in a New York City neighborhood, but about Oak Cliff's Bishop Arts District.

"This district is fun. The people here are very loyal," says the cafe's general manager Lorna Tate.

"The crowd is very sophisticated, and it reminds me of the clubs from the '30s and '40s, where musicians could create and experience new ideas, which isn't easy to do."

The space, which has been open since June, was full this weekend ­ about 110 sit-down patrons and approximately 40 standing ­ for saxophonist Joseph Vincelli.

Although he's performed in New Jersey and along the West Coast, Mr. Vincelli has found an attractive base of operations in the Dallas/Fort Worth area.

"I like Dallas," he said before his set. "It's very business-minded, and it's centrally located to cities like Chicago, New York, Miami, and L.A."

He's aware of Texas' rich tenor sax traditions but doesn't try to imitate them.

"I always look at it like saxophone players are more individual on alto and soprano," he said, addressing his horns of choice.

"Plus, I think that I have a very dark alto-horn sound that draws from that."

Although he covered standards like "Summertime" and "Sunny," both Friday and Saturday nights saw Mr. Vincelli drawing primarily from his latest album, This Life.

Original tunes like "Stay Together" and "You Never Know" gave fans of smooth jazz exactly what they enjoy hearing.

Ably backed by Gordon Pope on bass, drummer Keith Banks, and keyboardist Corey Lacy, Mr. Vincelli's set went a long way towards making manifest Ms. Tate's vision for the club. "We wanted to bring something to Dallas that we felt was lacking," she explained.

"We wanted to create an artist's playground where they could perfect their craft while people enjoyed their efforts."