Jeff Hughes cornet, John Clark, Leader, clarinet/bass sax, Tom Boates trombone, Jimmy Mazzy banjo/vocals, Ross Petot piano, Rick MacWilliams tuba, Dave Didriksen drums

An energetic, rambunctious Wolverine Jazz Band raised the temperature on this very cold February evening with uplifting, toe-tapping Traditional Jazz at Primavera Ristorante.   Just a week+ after Mardi Gras, this was an evening of tunes from the essential spirit of early New Orleans up to the 1950s in preparation for their umpteenth CD – and all of us were pleased to be a part of it!

Jimmy Mazzy kicked it off with banjo intro on Maybe, a song written in 1926 by George and Ira Gershwin, then Brown Bottom Bess, by Johnny Dodds.

Jimmy took banjo intro and vocal on Take Your Tomorrows and Give Me Today.

This front line lights up the room!  Trombone, cornet and clarinet against a four-piece rhythm section.

The rhythm section had “strength up the middle.”  They laid back on ballads, but on a hot tune…look out!

Jelly Roll Morton’s Frog-I-More Rag was a killer with John Clark’s powerful bass saxophone! He reaches deep down and creates beautiful music.

John sang The Preacher, with the band in close harmony, and the 1934 Baby Brown, by Alex Hill with livewire ensemble band opening – marvelous.  Ross Petot was in full stride.

 

 

 

 

We were all happy to see Ross Petot back with the band.  He’s usually unavailable – teaching on Thursday nights.  Fortunately for us, school was out this week. His stride piano is inimitable!!

Check it out on the video of Honky Tonk Towne!

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Boates requested I’m Gonna Charleston back to Charleston  –  love that growling trombone! He was featured on Stars Fell on Alabama.  (It refers to a spectacular occurrence of the Leonid meteor shower observed in Alabama in November 1833.)

Tom drove 125 miles from Connecticut to get here, putting heart and soul in a New Orleans tune recorded in 1940 by Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong
– Down in Honky Tonk Town.

video by Marce (sorry about shrinkage!  Listen to the music.)

Tell Me Why – sweet intro to Jimmy vocal with Jeff backup.  John actually played melody on that monstrous bass sax, with Tom on  trombone doing harmony.  Lovely!
Jimmy’s banjo opened on a sweet ballad, How Deep is The Ocean, with Jeff backing him on cornet.  (Jeff has been playing harmony for Jimmy ever since they were together in Ray Smith’s Paramount Jazz Band.)

Jeff and John  remembered playing In Our Cottage of Love with the Paramount Jazz Band.

Jeff Hughes is the Bix Beiderbecke in this Wolverine Jazz Band. His technique  encompasses a fabulous variety of moods and timbres, especially in a 1928 song Bix did with the Paul Whitman orchestra, Lonely Melody.

Let’s Have Another Cup of Coffee is a song by Irving Berlin in the musical comedy Face the Music, which opened in 1932. The song is sung by a group of once-wealthy citizens who were awaiting better times, as mirrored in the song’s opening lyrics: Just around the corner, there’s a rainbow in the sky.

Banjo played verse on a sweet ballad recorded by Mildred Bailey and Her Orchestra in 1937 If You Ever Should Leave / Heaven Help This Heart of Mine.  Harold Arlen’s Kicking The Gong Around had Jimmy scat-singing, with the band alternating fast and slow tempos..

 

Hot toe-tapping Dixieland tune,   Sensation Rag, is also on another  one of their CDs, with drummer Dave Didriksen tapping on woodblock.

The buoyant rhythm section sparked by drums provided solid support.

Dip Your Brush In The Sunshine 1931 by Ted Lewis –  Jimmy singing backed by clarinet.

 

 

 

 

Band in ensemble took the intro to I Ain’t Gonna Tell Nobody with nice tuba solo. Rick’s tuba gives the music support and richness and pushes the beat without racing the time.

 

 

 

These musicians get absolute rapture in making music and delectable hot jazz!!

The Wolverine Jazz Band has been invited to several festivals. They won’t be back here at Primavera until April 26th!   Mark your calendars! Don’t miss this amazing Jazz band!

You can purchase any of their fine CD’s at www.wolverinejazzband.com.