The Galvanized Jazz Band– 4 sets – 10 musicians – The always dependable stall-ward foundational trad jazz band in CT, graced by vocalist Jane Campedelli performed admirably as ever. Always a wonderful performance! Friday night Lou Green led the group with Fred Vigorito regaining the helm on Sunday. Lauren Humpage
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Connecticut’s Galvanized Jazz Band with Jane Campedelli vocals and Craig Grant trombone was lead by Lew Green on Friday, June 22nd, with regulars Russ Whitman reeds, Bill Sinclair piano, Art Hovey tuba, and Bob Bequillard drums. Fred Vigorito returned on the 24th with Jane, Craig, and Joel Schiavone.
June 24th with Fred & Joel: Galvanized Jazz Band:
Lassus Trombone:
June:
Nobody Knows you When You’re down and out:
Limehouse Blues:
Basin Street Blues with Jane Campedelli:
Sunday, Jane Campedelli
On the 23rd, with Lew Green, they opened with Lil Armstrong’s My Heart, a tune she recorded with Louis in Chicago. Jane Campedelli joined them beginning with a soft sweet verse of You’ve Got to See Mama Every Night, or You Can’t See Your Mama At All.
Sammy Kahn’s Until The Real Thing Comes Along, Russ on beautiful alto sax.
Lou’s cornet was featured on South,with Russ on curved B♭sopranino saxophone, one of the least common of the saxophones in regular use today.
We had just learned of the sad passing of Joe Muranyi. In his memory, they played Blues for Joe, Bequillard beginning with soft brushes on the snare drum. Lou Green has been playing off and on with Joe since 1971. Muranyi has been around a long time, he played with Louis Armstrong. When asked how to pronounce his name, Louis said “Think of Ma Rainey.”
Janie returned for an upbeat, risqué 1920’s tune, I Double Dare You,with Green on clean crisp cornet, sounding almost like a trumpet. Lou lead the Original Salty Dogs from Purdue University. (The band is now in its 64th year.)
Cutting to a slower pace, a sing-along from the Big Band Era, Les Brown’s Band of Renown, Sentimental Journey.
Piano vamp intro to Yellow Dog Blues, fabulous trombone by Craig Grant. He plays with such passion, the instrument almost becomes an extension of his body. And the New England audience actually responded to the Yellow Dog, jumping up and yelling in the breaks! (We’re learning.)
Craig is a fantastic trombone player, one of the best in New England, but is generally unknown outside of Connecticut. Your loss, our gain!!
Bill Sinclair piano keeps the band in line.
Bill has been playing New Orleans Jazz for over 40 years, he even played with W. C. Handy when he was 16, picking up an incredible feel for New Orleans Jazz.
The dynamic duo, the basic foundation of the Galvanized Jazz Band, maintain its steady, solid beat – Bob Bequillard drums, and Art Hovey, tuba and string bass.
Bob has been playing Dixieland for over 40 years and is known and respected for holding a strong, steady beat.
Art may be a physicist, but he lives and breathes music, and is determined to ensure the survival of Traditional/Dixieland Jazz with his very successful Sugarfoot Youth Jazz Band
They concluded this set with Janie’s Hot Mama version of Cake Walking Babies.
The Galvanized Jazz Band plays all over Connecticut, and at Aunt Chilada’s, 3931 Whitney Ave, Hamden, always on the 3rd Sunday of every month, with Tom Artin-trombone, Cynthia Fabian-vocals, Bill Sinclair-piano, Noel Kaletsky and Russ Whitman-reeds, Art Hovey-bass, Fred Vigorito-cornet, Tom Palinko-drums, Joel Schiavone-banjo, a 9 piece band! Don’t miss the hot Jazz, great food, and dancing too! No cover, no minimum! Call 203-230-4640 for reservations.
Al Ehrenfried celebrates 90th at the Sherborn Inn Videosby Harold McAleer
Family and Friends filled the Sherborn Inn June 19th to help Al Ehrenfried celebrate his 90th birthday. Al plays marvelous string bass with many local bands, and regularly with the Blue Horizon Jazz Band.
Blue Horizon Jazz Band
Left to right, Gerry Gagnon trombone, Jeff Stout trumpet, Dave Bragdon drums, Al Ehrenfried string bass, McDonald, Ross Petot piano, and Peter Gerler guitar.The Blue Horizon Jazz Band, lead by Stan McDonald, soprano sax and clarinet, plays on the 3rd Tuesday of the month at the Sherborn Inn.
All By Myself kicked off the evening, with a Stan McDonald vocal – but Al certainly wasn’t – with family from all over the country and many music friends joining him.
Jeff Hughes John ‘Urbie’ Kafalas Lee Prager
Frank Stadler Jim Mazzy John Clark
Dave Didriksen Dan Weiner Steve Taddeo
BHJB continued with a Sidney Bechet tune, Lastic.When I Leave The World Behind, great soprano sax with cornet comping. Tijuana.
McDonald featured onBlues in the Air – it has a fine Blue Horizon clarinet solo in the middle.
Manager of the Sherborn Inn, Phil Cocoa, had a delicious chocolate cake ready for all to enjoy. Al’s artist friend Alice presented him with a special birthday card that she created “Cool Cat”.
Vocalist Mollie Malone sings a breathless “Marilyn Monroe”Happy Birthday to Al accompanied by the band with Frank Stadler on piano..
Band Two was lead by Jeff Hughes, with Lee Prager trombone, John Clark clarinet, Jimmy Mazzy banjo, Frank Stadler piano, Dan Weiner guitar, Dave Didriksen drums, and of course Al on string bass. He played with every band – all evening.
Steve Taddeo dropped in for a couple of tunes. Al suggested a Gershwin tune from the Swng Era, S’Wonderful.
Baby Ain’t I Good to You, fantastic front line Kafalas, Hughes, Clark – followed by Weiner guitar solo. Jimmy slipping into his infamous scat.
Dave Didriksen, of the Wolverine Jazz Band, back on drums providing a crisp, tight Dixieland Beat for Louis Armstrong’s Someday You’ll Be Sorry.
Jeff Stout trumpet and Jeff Hughes on long Conn cornet are a great combination anytime!
Frank Stadler introduced Found a New Baby, Lee Prager trombone challenging Al to a trombone/bass duet – as he often does with the Seacoast Stompers. Al is up to the challenge!
They dedicated Dr. Jazz to oncologist John McGrath, internist Dr. Bailen, a surgeon, and any other Doctors in the audience.
The last set started with the BHJB, an appropriate June Night. John ‘Urbie’ Kafalas joined the band on trombone. Two trombones! John played with this band many years ago, and has been audio-taping many bands, especially Jimmy Mazzy, over 25 years. Check him out at http://kafalas.net/jazz/ .
More Bechet, beautiful Lotus Blossom, Stan on soprano sax of course, ending with the last note in the stratosphere! Marchand de Poisson (Fish Vendor). Al’s string bass took the intro to Lady Be Good.
The rest of the musicians wandered in for the Finale, a Blues that was composed the year Al was born – Blues in C.
Gerry Gagnon, Urbie Kafalas, Jeff Stout, Dave Bragdon, Al Ehrenfried, Stan McDonald, Ross Petot, Peter Gerler, Jeff Hughes, John Clark
The Finale had almost everybody. Harold McAleer videotaped the whole evening, and we hope to get many of them up here eventually. Next to him is Ellen McDonald, Manager of the Blue Horizon Jazz Band, and the ONLY person responsible for our Tuesday Night Jazz at the Sherborn Inn for 17 years!! THANK YOU, ELLEN!
Al and the Blue Horizon Jazz Band will continue to be here on the 3rd Tuesday of every month. Join us!
John Clark, leader and reeds; Jeff Hughes, cornet; Tom Boates, trombone; Ross Petot, piano; Jimmy Mazzy, banjo & vocals; Rick McWilliams, tuba; Dave Didriksen, drums.
New England’s Wolverine Jazz Band can sit down and swing—an irony, since swing makes you want to stand up. Last May, they kicked off a full-house concert at Bemis Hall in Lincoln, MA with Joe Oliver’s Canal Street Blues—out of the Crescent City marching band tradition. It was a good choice: New Orleans music is always about community. As the historian Al Rose has written, jazz “first appeared as music to be played joyfully in the open air by the brass bands of New Orleans’ countless fraternal organizations and by string ensembles at the parades, picnics, and ‘lawn parties’….It grew out of a whole way of life in and near the continent’s most cosmopolitan city.” (Rose: 106)
In Canal Street Blues, you hear the parade moving down New Orleans’ main boulevard, its “neutral zone,” the black-Creole dividing line, with flags waving and crowds moving-–bringing the racial sides together. The Wolverines opened the tune in one voice, carrying Oliver’s whole-band torch. In New Orleans “ragtime,” solos were rare; the band was the star. Many of the early black New Orleans bands came out of post-slavery “social aid and pleasure” clubs; the music was about finding camaraderie.
For their next tune, Jelly Roll Morton’s Original Jelly Roll Blues, the Wolverines adhered to the tradition. Morton, called the first jazz composer, painted musical trompe l’oeils—taking his listeners into the New Orleans French Market bustle, the District brothels where lonely men found company, the backroom piano contests, portraying a laid-back, four-beat life along the River. The Wolverines brought Jelly’s spirit to the Bemis stage. The horns echoed Johnny St. Cyr’s long-ago opening banjo riff, Clark’s clarinet brought the brass band trills, and the band marched through Jelly’s final modified blues sequence with its strange second-to-third-bar change.
In the fact that the Wolverine band is one of a countrywide—nay, worldwide—spread of living “jazz” purveyors, it too is a star. The sound that emerged as possibly the first world music doesn’t have to be “kept alive”; it is alive by its nature. “I don’t care how good the artist is, if you don’t have the Dixieland beat, you ain’t there,” the New Orleans bassist and Ellington alumnus Wellman Braud observed.
The Wolverines have brought that beat for seventeen years, since leader Dr. John Clark earned his big break—a spot in the late Ray Smith’s Paramount Jazz Band. Clark had been gigging for the better part of a decade, since college. Playing more than one horn gave him a leg up. “I brought my old, beat-up baritone sax to the sit-in session with Smith, because I thought there’d be other clarinet players there. The bari added something, and Ray loved that.”
In 1995, Clark went to Europe with the Paramount, then parlayed that into the formation of a new band, the Yankee Clippers. For this, he pulled cornetist Hughes from the Paramount and tubist McWilliams from another group, the Dixieland Strutters. He rounded up drummer Didriksen from the Happy Feet—another Clark musical alma mater. These three have hung in since the inception. Later, Clark got pianist Petot and banjoist Mazzy, who replaced Moishe Feldman and Bob Sundstrom, respectively.
At first, Clark’s gigs couldn’t support a trombone player, but later he got Boates. There’s another irony here: when Clark started out, he wanted to play trombone. But his mother said he was too small. “I would be carrying the trombone around with you,” she said. So now, Clark says, ”When I’m carrying my baritone sax and my alto and clarinet and bag of music books and stands and everything, I think how lovely it would be to just carrying a trombone.”
Quickly the “Yankee Clippers” became the “Wolverines,” in part because a folk group already owned the former name. Also, “Wolverines” brought an echo from jazz’s early days: Jelly Roll Morton had penned his enduring Wolverine Blues in 1923—the year after Louis Armstrong joined King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band in Chicago.
And the eternally audible Bix Beiderbecke joined his first steady group—the originalWolverines—in 1924. (Bix’s group had been so named because they played Jelly’s tune—one of their signature arrangements–regularly.) “The name ‘Wolverines’ has a jazz pedigree,” said Clark. “And knowing I would have Jeff Hughes with me—he was a Bix-style trumpet player. I figured that would be a tie-in.”
But Clark, who teaches music at Connecticut College, wants the band’s music to appeal to all ages, young and old. “I didn’t want to limit it to one repertoire,” he says. “Straw hats, red vests—the Wolverine Jazz Band has never, will never—over my dead body.”
The Wolverines have cut eleven CDs in their seventeen years. Their latest, “The Street Beat,” opens with the Bob Crosby New Orleans anthem, South Rampart Street Parade, in which they have something to say. “Cry when you’re born, rejoice when you die,” goes the old Crescent City proverb. So when the funeral parades “cut loose the body” and turned back to town, the snare drum kicked off a strutting, world-apart celebration, described by the Crescent City banjo and guitar man Danny Barker as “the greatest real-live free show on earth.”
It often happened on the black main stem—South Rampart—and the Wolverines take you into that borderline religious experience, setting out in straight march time—because as the author William Least-Heat Moon noted about kites, “No string, no flight.” (Paraphrase: No string, no swing.) Boates’ ‘bone solo transmits the joy and romp of a second-line parade, and in Mazzy’s distinguished, turn-over-every-stone banjo play, you can see a child skipping along.
“The Street Beat” also features a re-enactment of the Joe Oliver classic Chimes Blues, in which a 22-year-old inchoate trumpeting street waif named Louis Armstrong laid down his first-ever recorded solo. (The jazz critic Gary Giddins observed that, when you heard that solo, “You heard the future.”)
The Wolverines’ take on Chimes launches with Boates’ barrelhouse trombone then clicks into Petot’s clocklike reading of Lil Hardin’s “chimes” piano passage. Now cornetist Hughes grabs onto Louis’ solo and takes it in a new direction, in his own laid-back, horsey time. Art is in session.
With Didriksen’s drum clip, the “The Street Beat” upbeat delivery of Paul Barbarin & Luis Russell’s Come Back Sweet Papa sounds more like Papa’s gone like a turkey through the corn. I’ve often thought of this tune as an example of not-swinging vs. swinging. The original Armstrong Hot Five side opens with clarinetist Johnny Dodds on alto saxophone, tooting the melody along, a child with a new toy. It was not his best horn. Then on a staccato stop, Armstrong swoops in, swinging to redefine the concept.
The Wolverines’ Come Back dispenses with Dodds’ opening; instead, Clark’s clarinet ambles in with Armstrong’s set-up strain, found later during the Hot Five take. It’s a nice solution. Then on top of McWilliams’ laid-back tuba pokes and snaking long notes emerge nice ambulations by Mazzy and Boates, a trading session between Clark and Hughes, and a piano perambulation by Petot . Enter a 3-horn, chamber jazz “trio,” opening into the final stampede through town. They must have found Papa.
Birmingham Breakdown on “The Street Beat” follows the original 1927 side by Duke Ellington and his Kentucky Club Orchestra—with its tight, 20-bar theme seemingly designed after a dance step, and with a rhythmic pattern foreshadowing by a year that of the standardCrazy Rhythm. Petot’s stride piano turn, “re-issuing” Ellington’s original solo and riding on Didriksen’s and McWilliams’ easy drums and tuba, swings as much, if not more, than Duke’s–as if Petot has had the last 85 years to loosen up. Toward the end, he brings a fierceness echoing Morton’s incendiary piano solo on Black Bottom Stomp.
(Ross Petot’s own recent CD, “New Ragtime & Other Stuff,” offers a collection of original piano rags, composed and played by Petot in the classic tradition. There are echoes of Charles Ives, Aaron Copland, Scott Joplin, Fats Waller—even Dave McKenna. The sound is Teutonic, Harlemesque, parlor-dance, barrelhouse. Definitely worth a listen.)
“The Street Beat” also ties back to Clarence Williams’ bands of the twenties—which the Wolverines would have had to do sooner or later. Williams, who in 1906 moved to New Orleans after hearing Buddy Bolden up the river, spawned numerous jazz tunes—either by composing them himself or by issuing others’ works through the publishing house he formed with A. J. Piron. Over the years—in New Orleans, Chicago, and New York–Williams provided recording work for dozens of early jazz players.
He recorded Cushion Foot Stomp at least five times during 1927, perhaps most notably with his Clarence Williams’ Washboard Five. (Some early jazz bands could have a jerry-rigged sound; washboard, jug, and “spasm” bands were not uncommon.) The Wolverines do a sweet turn with Cushion Foot, closely mirroring the Williams side.
It’s a two-part tune—the first part riding on a blues strain, the second following the basic “ragtime” progression of Lazy River or Jazz Me Blues. Part two grabs you with its two-note, pushing-at-the-sides motif. Didriksen drives it with laid-back brushes. Clark, in his clarinet solo, pushes funk through his windpipe, as McWilliams’ tuba slides up into Mazzy’s sliding-in vocal. You can’t understand the lyrics on Williams’ original (like Armstrong on Sugar Foot Strut)—and Mazzy emulates them beautifully!
Yet Mazzy’s vocals put a stamp on whatever group he plays in, and it was no different as the Wolverines wrapped up Bemis with Ted Lewis’ Dip Your Brush in the Sunshine. Singing as through a megaphone, Mazzy took his crowd back to vaudeville and the Chautauqua tents, as he evangelized them to “Make love a duty, and you’re bound to find beauty.” He’s been there, and he believes it.
It was a Memorial Day Concert, and the Wolverines polished it off with God Bless America. “God Bless Jazz,” it could have been, since one came out of the other.
Wolverine Jazz Band CDs, concert listings, biographies and more are available on their website, http://www.wolverinejazzband.com.
They were dancing in the aisles at this CJALL Annual Live Jazz Concert in Lincoln MA to Jimmy’s vocalizing on this sweet ballad. Sponsored by the Friends of the Lincoln Library this event draws large crowds every year. http://www.cjall.org/
Front Row (left to right): Albie Bernard, Sal Basile, Jason & Karen Senn, Gim Burton, Ronnie Spector, Michelle Berting, Sherman Kahn, Fred Vigorito, Ken Chant
Second Row (left to right): Ben Griffin, Bob Cafro, Cindy Cafro, Mark Brett, Mary Rodgers, Jimmie Rodgers, Marshall Lytle, JoAnne Martin (Jimmy Jay’s wife), David Spitzer, Jimmy Jay, Judy Postemsky, Bill Logozzo, Skip Hughes, Shari Lucas, Denise Hornbecker (Channel 3 Kids Camp), Shirley Bombaci, Jeff Hughes, Nancy Loader, Michael Dauphin (Hole in the Wall), Maria Gomez (Hole in the Wall)
Bill Logozzo has two bands, a Dixieland Jazz Band and a Rock Band. It’s not often the two get to play together, but this fundraiser was for a very special reason – children. Bill is aware of how important it is for kids to receive love and support. His Musical Dreams for Human Harmony funnels monies to help children and people from all religions, races and ages, with specific medical needs and/or handicaps. Held at the First Church of Christ in Middletown Connecticut on April 21, 2012, all proceeds went to:
Paul Newman’s Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, created in 1988 in Ashford CT, serves more than 20,000 children and family members annually, free of charge. Through summer sessions and family weekend programs, and year-round outreach to hospitals and clinics throughout the Northeast, this community provides “a different kind of healing” to children and their families coping with cancer, sickle cell anemia and other serious illnesses. They are generally isolated from the community. Here illnesses are left at the door, children impact each other and can “raise a little hell” with others just like themselves. Not isolated. Their infirmary is called “The OK Corral !”
The Channel 3 Kids’ Camp, founded in 1910, is a year-round retreat for over 4000 children, ages 6 – 16 on 350 acres along the Skungamaug River. For them the camping season never ends! They have both day and week camps. At the Day Camp Children 6-12 learn self esteem and independence through learning and playing with other children. The overnight camps provide teens with personal, social and recreational programs in a safe and positive environment that enhances personal and social skills, teaches leadership and responsibility, and promotes individual self-esteem. In addition to the social benefits, a week spent in the mountains or woods heightens the child’s awareness of the relationship between people and nature. During the fall and winter months, many more children are able to experience this vast 350 acres as they participate in Natures Classroom, where science and nature are brought to life in a way that no text book possibly can.
Bill Logozzo believes that music is the route to the soul, and the method for making all feel good. He and countless volunteers, headed by Karen Senn gathered the best local musicians and some Country and Rock Stars from different generations.
Jimmy Jay, DJ of the Stars served as announcer – “This is the first time I’ve ever partied in a church!.”
He saluted his friend Dick Clark, who had just died at 82. Jimmy had an 80th birthday salute to Clark just 2 years ago.
He introduced an extended Heartbeat Jazz Band to jump-start this very special afternoon.
Marshall Lytle and Jimmy Jay
Logozzo’s drum took the intro to a WILD New Orleans, with Skip Hughes powerful voice, and the jazz ensemble echoing off the high church ceiling. Skip called it a “con-fusion” band Swing That Music was spectacular – John Clark vocalizing!
Ray Ross photo
Ben Griffin used Basin St. Blues to introduce each musician: Sherman Kahn, John Clark, reeds, Ben Griffin and Skip Hughes trombone, Jeff Hughes cornet, Bill Logozo drums, Shari Lucas keyboard, Gim Burton banjo, Albie Bernard tuba. Blues My Naughty Sweety Gives to Me had the skillful intertwining of the clarinet duo, Sherman Kahn and John Clark. You could feel the musical energy building up.
Jimmy introduced Michelle Berting Connecticut’s newest import from Canada, who is currently starring in “The Man In Black” tour, a show about Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, and also in “Close To You: The Songs of the Carpenters,” set to launch in the U.S. this year. (She also takes time to sing for our troops.) From the standard song book, this charming singer chose Georgia, intro by Jeff Hughes on muted 1955 Connstellation cornet. Singing from the heart, she continued with, Sentimental Journey, the audience attentive and quiet.
Ray Ross photo
Next was Marshall Lytle a founding member and bassist of Bill Haley and the Comets. Lytle was recently inducted into the Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Fame, finally, 58 years after recording Rock Around the Clock! Triple Play, Logozzo’s Rock ‘n Roll band, backed him with help from Ben Griffin on trombone, Sherman Kahn on tenor sax, and Shari Lucas on keyboard. Lyte immediately won the heart of this audience – this was our era! We were squirming in our seats.
Shake Rattle & Roll, had the audience clapping in sync, people in the balcony dancing, in the aisles, they gave him a standing ovation – and he had just begun! He thanked the wonderful audience. Next was another one from 50’s See Ya Later Alligator, people up back couldn’t sit, started dancing, including me. Michelle Berting joined him for a tune he wrote in1950 You’re the Greatest.
DJ Jimmy Jay presented Jimmie Rodgers, country singer best known for his chart-topping hits in the 50s and 60s. He has lost his voice for 6 years due to an aneurism, and is now trying to restore his career by playing some of the songs from his 23 gold records and singing along, and telling jokes. Secretly, Kisses Sweeter Than Wine, Un Oh Falling in Love Again, A Child of Clay, Honeycomb, and then did one song in his own voice, playing guitar, A Hundred Miles, taking us to 5pm.
There was a break, cut short by Freddy Vigorito’s bugle call, bringing everyone back for an extra half hour.
Jimmy Jay introduced Ronnie Spector, the heart and soul of female Rock and Roll in the 1960s. A profoundly moving singer, she defined an entire era in pop music. She and the Ronettes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2007. She sang an emotional Be My Baby. “I’m thrilled to be here for the Channel 3 Kids Camp – it comes from the heart.”
Heartbeat Jazz Band returned with Michelle Berting for a fine rendition of Patsy Cline’s country hit, Crazy. Triple Play joined the Heartbeat for a barn-burning, Louis Prima’s Jump Jive & Wail that had Shari jumping up and jiving. The horns went wild, weaving in all directions. They followed with Tiger Rag in triple time, with the ferocious tiger of two trombones, both Jeff and Freddy on cornet, Logozzo slamming the drums. Washington and Lee Swing(The Dummy Song) with Skip Hughes vocal. Incredible! But it wasn’t over.
Ray Ross photo
Our favorite young vocalist, Jason Senn, brought the house down with Louis Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World. It really is!!
Heartbeat Dixieland Jazz Band has a Facebook page! If you’re on Facebook, please go to the page and click “like” for their schedule. Plus, You can view all the photos and videos from this concert.
Directed by Don Pentleton, with Vocals by Steve Marvin, and Featuring the alto sax of Tom Ferrante*, at Amazing Things Arts Center, May 7, 2012.
The Hal McIntyre Big Band begins its season every year at the Amazing Things Arts Center in Framingham, Massachusetts – “to blow dust off the music and see if we can still play it.” They haven’t seen each other since November. Man, can they still play it!
From that first sound of Stomping at The Savoy, the saxophones and brass had us enthralled with their joyful, timeless spirit. One of Hal McIntyre’s own arrangements in McIntyre’s warm ballad style, with Ed Harlow and Dave Burdette soloist, I Can’t Believe That You’re In Love With Me.
Personnel: Director/Drums: Don Pentleton, Trumpets: Dave Burdett, Dennis Perriccio, Jerry Seeco Trombones: Steve Piermarini, Wayne Branco, Brian Kay Saxophones. Tom Ferrante, Sil D’urbano, Ed Harlow, Arnie Krakowsky, Jerry Vejmola Piano: John Acaro String bass: Stephen Arsenault
Ed Harlow
Ed Harlow, laid back and mellow sax, on a big hit from the 1940’s That Old Feeling.
Their alternate theme song, 1942 Commando Serenade, from a movie in the 1940’s, powerful, with both muted trumpets and muted trombones. Fantastic!
Directed by Don Pentleton, the band is faithful to the original charts – literally – with the now yellowed pages, all torn around the edges.
Don is a veteran Big Band drummer who has also performed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra, Guy Lombardo Orchestra, Skitch Henderson, Ella Fitzgerald and comedians Phyllis Diller, Pat Cooper, Frankie Fontaine, and George Jessel. He has kept this marvelous band working together, playing one-nighters all over Massachusetts and New England ever since.
Sil D’Urbano’s rich, warm and vibrant clarinet solo is on a Benny Goodman arrangement of On a Clear Day,
Sil has been in the business for 65 years, and still playing fine, strong sax and clarinet!!
Sil D’Urbano
Let’s Fall in Love, many individual one-chorus solos. Acaro on piano, sneaks in a snippet of Louise.
Don says “former saxophonist Dave Chapman “played the hell out of this tune.” Unfortunately we lost Dave a couple of years ago. Tom Ferrante does equally well on this three-tune medley. Ferrante started on gut wrenching tenor sax, with My One And Only Love. Acaro uses the full range of the piano keys on I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face, and Dave Burdett’s deep, rich tones dominate on Young Man With a Horn.
Tom Ferrante Dave Burdett
Moving to a much faster beat, a Woody Herman song for Jerry Seeco – Days of Wine and Roses. This was Jerry’s first time with the band.
Wayne Branco
Wayne Branco featured on Ted Heath’s version of April in Paris.
Hal McIntyre liked to stay current, and Don expects that if he were here, he would play this more modern version of Lennie Niehaus’ Love Walked In, featuring Dave Burdette trumpet, Steve Piermarini trombone.
The band moved to a Latin beat with Leroy Anderson’s Serenata, highlighting Dave Burdett’s fine trumpet. Lovely! We were left spellbound!
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Vocalist Steve Marvin, of Revere, Massachusetts, is one of the finest interpreters of Frank Sinatra’s music. Steve Piermarini always takes the lead directing the band for Steve’s vocals; he’s familiar with the routine……and those important keys. Piermarini and Marvin were a duet for many years.
Marvin sings with Sinatra’s soul and style, using the maestro’s “long breath” technique. But he conveys the message and the emotions in his own voice. I’ve Got The World on a String, Don’t Worry About Me, The Best is Yet to Come, I’ve Got You Under My Skin.
And captivates the audience with those piercing blue eyes!
Arnie Krakowski’s loose, sinuous sax is featured on a chart they received from a DJ in Los Angeles, a Tom Kubris arrangement of When You’re Smiling, played in a more, modern vein…..
Arnie Krakowsky
……with Acaro’s fingers running up and down the piano keys!
An Assistant Professor at Berklee, Acaro is a National and international pianist and recording artist.
The whole front row was filled with John’s ‘s family, a whole slew of Italian Aunts and Cousins, who were enjoying the McIntyre Big Band as much as the rest of us.
Stephen Arsenault is calm and consistent.
His strong chord voicings on string bass are sometimes driving the band, sometimes providing a steady beat behind the instrumentalists, but always right there!
Steve Marvin returned for the finale, with an unforgettable Old Black Magic. (Where did the time go???) He listens to the horns, and scats along with the saxophones, like a front line instrument. Nice touch! Luck Be a Lady Tonight, from Robin and the 7 Hoods, and the final tune, a fantastic Chicago.
We were completely absorbed with this fine music – couldn’t help it. Time just flew by. The Hal McIntyre Big Band is still “The Band that America loves”. See for yourself. Catch them at Old Orchard Beach in July:
July 24, 6:30-8:30pm Hal McIntyre Orchestra, directed by Don Pentleton and featuring the alto saxophone of Tom Ferrante with the Sinatra style vocals of Steve Marvin at The Seaside Pavilion, Old Orchard Beach, Maine The World famous Hal Mcintyre Orchestra with a Frank Sinatra Tribute featuring vocalist, Steve Marvin comes to the Pavilion this summer! Under the direction of Don Pentleton, veteran Big Band drummer, they’ll be sure to delight music lovers of all ages! Don Pentleton is the musical director and drummer of the Hal McIntyre Orchestra. Don took over the reigns of the Hal McIntyre Orchestra through an arrangement with the McIntyre family.. $12.00 Advance / $17.00 Day of Show Tickets
Or pick up a couple of CD’s. There are two Hal McIntyre CDs currently available. 1. Lullaby Of Birdland 2. Free and Easy $15.00 each. Contact, donpentleton@yahoo.com.
Tom Ferranteis an alumnus of NEC, has been a member of the theater orchestra of the Wang, Schubert, and Colonial theaters, as well as the Boston Opera House. He has also been a member of the Herb Pomeroy and Greg Hopkins Jazz Orchestras. His education credits include 20 years as director of bands at Waltham High School, 25 years as associate professor of saxophone at UMASS – Lowell, and clinician and adjudicator for the Massachusetts Association of Jazz Educators, of which he was the first president.
“SPRINGTIME IN LAS VEGAS” brought many changes to the Greater Milford Community Chorus, but maintained the outstanding quality audiences have come to expect. The concert celebrated the many facets of Las Vegas, and recalled musical numbers by Elvis and Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow and Celine Dion, and more. Also on the program were songs about taking a gamble and the popular wedding chapels.
The Greater Milford Community Chorus members come from various towns in the area and meet every Wednesday evening under the direction of Dan Zabinski. They are staunchly committed, really enjoy singing and have a lot of fun! That’s all it takes.
Dan Zabinski
For the first time, this concert was held in the theater at Milford’s Stacy Middle School, across from the Library. The School’s Theater has a bigger capacity than Memorial Hall, and very comfortable seats, though some acoustics were sacrificed.
When we arrived, virtuosic pianist Wayne Ward welcomed us with tunes from the Great American Songbook,Autumn Leaves, All the Things You Are, All of Me. Wayne played a haunting and elegant solo of Judy Garland’s Over The Rainbow.
An accomplished pianist, he’ been a great addition to GMCC over the last few years.
Wayne Ward, piano
The chorus was also supported by Douglas Weeks, bass guitar, Rebecca Eland on keyboard (an instrument that mimics all instruments), and certainly not to be ignored, rhythmic drummer Patrick Hanafin (not pictured).
The Chorus performed songs by different artists who have starred in Vegas over the years, and also hits made famous by other singers. Frank Sinatra was represented by Come Fly With Me. Razzle Dazzle came from the Broadway Show, Chicago (with Rebecca playing mandolin on keyboard.) Route 66 was one of Nat King Cole’s hits.
Tenors and basses were featured in a gregarious Fugue For Tinhorns, (Horse Right Here) from Guys and Dolls, and a sassy Pocketful of Miracles from the MGM movie that starred Betty Davis.
The women of the chorus were featured wearing whimsical wedding veils in a capricious parody of Chapel of Love. They acknowledged Celine Dion, a popular performer in Vegas, with the melancholic Taking Chances.
Pauline Barrett Deb DeFilipo
A really Jazzy rendition of C’mon on Everybody even had the audience snapping their fingers, stomping their feet, and clapping hands along with some rockin’ choreography by Pauline Barrett and Deb DeFilippo.
Lisa Mather
Lynelle Bennett
The whole chorus joined in for One Voice, following solos by Lisa Mather, Michael Smith, and Lynelle Bennett. This Barry Manilow tune was one of the finest productions of the evening!
Gail Brown
Dean Martin’s That’s Amore,started up-tempo, then segued into tender waltz time.
It was dedicated to Stan and Gail Brown who were celebrating their 50th Anniversary Saturday. (Stan was hiding in the audience.)
Deanna Kowalczyk was featured on I’ve Got The World On A String. She’s been with the chorus for 15 years. The mic went dead, but her smooth alto voice was still heard throughout the theater.
Sonny and Cher were represented with The Beat Goes On (sung by the entire chorus) and the Shoop Shoop Song sung by (l to r) Deb DeFilippo, Carey Zimmerman, Joanne Roy, Carolyn Letvin and Mayumme Vieira, wearing hot pink and black feather boas.
Soloists Carey Zimmerman and Joanne Roy.
The concert came to a rousing finale with the entire chorus joining in for Elvis Presley’s Burning Love, featuring the band for a full chorus, with fantastic drum solo by Patrick Hannafin.
Dan Zabinski invited anyone to become part of the chorus. You must be 18 years or older, be able to carry a tune, love having fun and singing – that’s all it takes!
Rehearsals for the Holiday Show begin Wednesday, September 5th, 7:15pm at Memorial Hall Cultural Center, 30 School St. Milford, Massachusetts. New members are always welcomed!
Monte Carlo front line, Bob MacInnis, Blair Bettencourt, John Clark
This isn’t Traditional Jazz. As the name implies, it’s Ensemble. Emphasis is placed on the musicians working together, and their chemistry was there from the start. Musicians tonight were Bob MacInnis cornet/flugelhorn, Blair Bettencourt clarinet and soprano sax, John Clark alto sax and clarinet, Robin Verdier piano, Bill Reynolds drums, and last, but certainly not least, Albie Bernard on that monster tuba.
Robin Verdier meticulously picks every tune and arrangement like a painter creating a complex masterpiece, and re-creates the dance bands of the 1920’s. (see complete listing at the bottom). Butt it’s still fresh and harmonious in the hands of these talented New England musicians.
Robin rolls up his sleeves, sits at the piano with his back to the band. There is powerful stride and solid interplay between both hands.
He leads.
He blends together new ideas and constantly refreshes the material.
It was different from the beginning. If Dreams Come True featuring two clarinets, with MacInnis first on Flugelhorn and then cornet, ensemble sounding off like chimes.
How Am I To Know? Robin inserted a Stan Kenton piece of Eager Beaver that fit very nicely in the middle……
….perfect tempo for Dr. Dave and Helene – who love to dance!
Irving Berlin was one of the most prolific composers. His C U B A was not exactly PC:
Cuba, where wine is flowing And where dark-eyed Stellas Light their fellers’ Panatellas
Albie gets a rare solo on this one.
My Dreams, by another one of Robin’s favorite composers, Tiny Parham. The front line is absorbed in Robin’s intricate arrangements. They get it right – and there are smiles all around, especially on Robin, and sighs of relief from the band.
Blaire played soprano sax with passion and intensity on Sidney Bechet’s Southern Sunset. We hadn’t heard him for some time. In the late 70’s, some of us were dancing to the Yankee Rhythm Kings in the back of New England Life Hall in Boston, with Blair on reeds.
He retired in 2006 after 36 years as Music Director and Coordinator for Westford Academy, and still maintains an active schedule as a performer on clarinet and saxophone. It was a special treat having him back!
The first set ended with a Fats Waller tune, that he never actually recorded but just about everyone else did, Come on And Stomp, Stomp, Stomp. Great upbeat tune!
The Sherborn Staff took this opportunity to surprise manager Phil Cocco with a Happy 75th birthday cake. It was Phil who welcomed The Blue Horizon Jazz Band, and other Traditional and Dixieland Jazz, to the Sherborn Inn over 17 years ago.
Phil’s wife and family were gracious enough to share him with his other “Jazz Family”. We all enjoyed the delicious cake!
Back to business – Bob MacInnis gave a gripping performance that touched everybody on a complex arrangement of Oriental Blues. Hearing that Bob MacInnis is back from Florida is like finding a treasure every spring.
But he’s actually been back since mid-April, in time to play with the New Liberty Jazz Quartet at the Red Sox opener, as well as the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park, and also in parades in West Roxbury, Arlington and Lexington. He doesn’t waste much time; he plays every night in Naples Florida!
Shadows on the Swanee was relatively modern for this Ensemble – 1932. Lost1936.
Lena, Queen of Palesteena – latin beat – Robin temporarily moved to tambourine.
Lu Watters, Yerba Buena Strut – ensemble intro, nice clarinet by Blair, and Clark on alto sax. (Yerba Buena is a small island outside of San Francisco. )
Time was running out. The third set had a combination of two tunes, Quincy Stompand Blame it on The Blues. Then two ‘Crazy’ tunes in a row, Crazy ‘bout My Baby, with ensemble intro, then sax, cornet, clarinet solos, backed by Billy’s rim tapping on the drum and Albie’s tuba covering the bass lines. (This was the first time they’ve done it.) Next, Crazy Rhythm, for these jazz musicians, is inescapable.
And of course, you can’t go back to the 1920’s without theCharleston!
Nancy Carter, from North Easton, performed it flawlessly.
Sonny Clay’s Cho-King – MacInnis used his hand for a mute on cornet, with the clarinet and sax comping. Bill Reynolds on choke cymbal. Perfect!
Reynolds is a long time jazz drummer on the Boston scene, he plays regularly with the New Black Eagle Jazz Band and is a faculty member in the jazz program at the University of Connecticut.
He’ll be one of the guest artists at Jazz Vermont Band Camp for Grownups August 12-17th at the Mount Snow Grand Summit Resort in West Dover, VT.
Finale – running out of time – Mule Face Blues started in a frenzy – Robin playing rapid stride, John Clark intense on alto sax, ensemble building momentum, the whole band was running WILD!
These were the Roaring Twenties, and we were there, if only for a brief moment. This was a fitting ending to a pleasurable trip back in time with our favorite Historian and his Monte Carlo Jazz Ensemble.
