Jeff Hughes trumpet/leader, John Clark and Craig Ball reeds, Jimmy Mazzy banjo/vocals, Ross Petot piano, Al Bernard tuba, Steve Taddeo drums
Ross was toying at the piano as usual as we arrived. I Can’t Get Started, Honeysuckle Rose.
Craig Ball came in at exactly 7 P.M. right on time! (He has just returned from a class reunion in England.)
These are busy musicians, Ross plays in several bands and teaches, Craig leads the White Heat Swing Orchestra, John Clark’s Wolverine Jazz Band was at the the Choo Choo Jazz Fest in Chattanooga, Tennessee May 3rd. Steve leads the Swing Senders and directs the Dick Donovan Big Band. Jeff has many bands, the most active being Swing Times Five and the Jazz Jesters.
Jeff distributed arrangements and they soared with their theme This Is My Lucky Day, Craig on tenor sax, John Clark on clarinet. (Baritone sax was left at home.)
Jeff kept these tunes from the 20’s and 30’s refreshing by varying the solos, pointing to an instrument, as if he’d just thought of it. The musicians were ready, carefully keeping an eye on him, and the arrangement, and reacted with inspiring solo work.
Jeff Hughes and John Clark
Jeff is in firm control of the band, except for Jimmy. Jimmy lives in his own world, in the Jazz Decades.
Jack Teagarden liked Ben Pollack’s Diane. There isn’t a trombone in this band, but Craig’s smooth tenor sax did just fine, getting the dancers up early.
They played a couple of early Bix tunes, before he joined Goldkette, when he was in the Wolverines. There Ain’t No Land Like Dixieland started with Jimmy & Jeff in sync – the two go back many years to Ray Smith’s Paramount Jazz Band.
In 1926 Bix recorded and wrote a tune dedicated to his home town, Davenport Iowa, Davenport Blues. Craig took the lead, Jeff and John playing harmony.
Staying in the Bix tradition, with the Wolverines before he became famous, I Need Some Petting, and a Gershwin fox trot Kicking The Clouds Away
Jeff thanked Steve Taddeo for being here. He said, “Steve plays drums better than anybody.” Taddeo was on a 1939 Slingerland Drum Set, with cymbals that were given to him by Bud Schutz who played with the Benny Goodman and Jimmy Dorsey Orchestras. Exudes energy!
Steve is a Gene Krupa devotee. For these tunes from the Jazz Decades, he maintained the Classic Jazz beat with a Krupa original, pinging the Hi Hat stand.
A Walter Donaldson tune featured Jimmy scatting on Changes. Lovely, one of our favorites.
The Kentucky Derby was coming up this Saturday; of course they had to play My Old Kentucky Home. Jimmy’s heartfelt vocal sounded as if he was really homesick for Kentucky. (We’ll ask him if he’s ever been there, when he returns from the 22nd Keswick Jazz Festival in England.)
Jean Goldkette first recorded this in 1926 in Detroit, Idolizing. That band included Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, Joe Venuti and Bix Beiderbecke.
Jeff tapped out a break-neck beat, chorus and then verse, eyes were focused on the arrangements, all except Jeff, and Jimmy – he doesn’t need them, ever.
From Billy Hill’s Empty Saddles in the Old Corral, Jeff introduced There’s a Cabin in the Pines, with Jimmy vocal. That was another tune from the Paramount Jazz Band.
One of Jeff’s favorite memories is hearing a recording of Bunny Berigan playing Louis Alter’s A Melody From the Sky. Jimmy gave it his own unique interpretation.
Hearing Jeff sing Broadway Melody, was a special treat. It comes from a 1929 American musical film – the first sound film to win an Academy Award for Best Picture.
“all talking, all singing, all dancing picture!”
Jimmy returned with a sweet version of It’s Wonderful. After that tender vocal, Vincent Youman’s 1920 I Know That You Know was absolutely WILD!
Jeff has an envious collection of instruments. This magnificent tone trumpet was custom-made for him last March at the local Osmun Trumpet in Acton, MA. They adapted a 1972 Yamaha Tuneable Bell with a wide trumpet bell that would have a warm cornet sound. Just what he wanted.
Many bands of the 30’s and 40’s delved into Classical, then changed the repertoire to Jazz. Rimsky- Korsakov’s Song of India was Bunny Berigan’s last recorded solo. The Jazz Jesters nailed it with trumpet, alto and tenor sax, prompting someone to say “That’s a piece of woik!”
Albie was featured on House of David Blues, by Elmer Schoebel, and recorded by Coleman Hawkins in 1923.
We caught that handsome fella hiding behind the tuba.
Jeff said that “High Society Blues by James Hanley had a beautiful 1930’s bittersweet feeling at the beginning of the 1929 Depression.” From High Society Blues, Jimmy sang Charles Lawman’s I’m in the Market For You, followed by another depression tune, Cottage For Sale.
Enough of that! This is a time to Be Happy!
The mood changed with the Finale, an upbeat, joyful Zonkie. They let Steve go on drums. He gave it the full Krupa treatment with a rousing, cacophony of sound, concluding with his famous drum walk-around.
9:30pm – we were supposed to be out of here, but nobody wanted to leave. They squeezed in one more tune.
Craig Ball took over. Craig’s clarinet went full scale from high to deep rich tones on Laughing at Life.
It was the right ending to a perfect evening:
“Lose all your blues laughing at life
Live for tomorrow, be happy today
Laugh all your sorrows away
Start now and cheer up
The skies will clear up
Lose all your blues laughing at life”
Jeff delved deep into the Jazz Decades for tonight’s performance – and we hope there will be many more like it. That would keep us happy! We’ll all be back for more.
Jeff’s Jazz Jesters will return May 28th – see you here!