Steve’s “Dream Team”, with Jeff Hughes trumpet, John Clark clarinet and bari sax, Ross Petot keyboard, Justin Meyer string bass, and himself, Steve Taddeo on drums, was televised at Milford’s new Community Center TV station on South Main Street, to be broadcast locally in Milford, Hopedale, Mendon and Upton, Comcast Channel 8, Verizon 40. Video
Steve showed his admiration for Gene Krupa with Don’t Be That Way. Ross introduced Crazy Rhythm with a nice groove, with Clark taking over on clarinet, trumpet comping. Piano intro with the verse to I’ve Got a Right to Sing The Blues, Jeff Hughes featured on that beautifully toned Yamaha tuneable bell trumpet.
You Do Something To Me, written by Cole Porter, was the first number in Porter’s first fully integrated-book musical Fifty Million Frenchmen (1929). Ross performed in his specialty stride piano.
Next was some early George Gershwin, I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise. Nice trumpet. John Clark took out the baritone sax for Billy Strayhorn’s Day Dream. Beautiful!
They closed with a barn-burning Dinah, with Steve doing his drum-walk-around to the string bass and sneaking in some of Bob Haggart and Ray Bauduc’s Big Noise From Winnetka, Steve drumming on the string bass, somebody sneaking in the whistling! It was WILD!
Justin Meyer, a superb free lance bassist, plays full rich tone on acoustic string bass.
A consummate side man, he lifts any band he plays with.
Our favorite ex-DJ, Harry Platcow, now Professional Photographer, features local Jazz musicians at Milford TV several times a month.
Thank you, Harry!!
Steve Taddeo and the Swing Senders with Special Guest Stars – The Midiri Brothers of New Jersey, will present a Live Jazz Concert – Free! at Classic Jazz at Lincoln Center, Bemis Hall, Bedford Rd. Lincoln MA on Wednesday, May 22 – 7:30. Mark your calendars!
in it’s 18th year at the Sherborn Inn April 16, 2013
Stan & Ellen McDonald introduced Classic Jazz to the Sherborn Inn over 18 years ago. Thankfully, it continues every Tuesday, showcasing fine Traditional & Dixieland Jazz and Swing.
The Blue Horizon Jazz Band plays regularly on the 3rd Tuesday of every month. Members are Stan McDonald leader/soprano sax & clarinet, Jeff Stout trumpet, Gerry Gagnon trombone, Ross Petot piano, Peter Gerler guitar, Al Ehrenfried acoustic string bass, and Dave Bragdon drums. Peter Gerler was in New Orleans enjoying the French Quarter Jazz Festival, so there was no guitar or banjo this evening.
McDonald was really in high spirits, started straightaway on clarinet with a bouncy Meet Me Tonight in Dreamland, and then on soprano sax with What Is This Thing Called Love, supported by the multitalented musicians. Instead of playing successive solos, the front line alternated each solo with tight, intricate ensemble – all spontaneous. He always has had the best musicians in the Blue Horizon Jazz Band.
Jelly Roll’s Roaming is an old war horse. Yama Yama Man included an exciting duet with Gerry on trombone and Stan on soprano sax.
Jeff Stout played powerful trumpet on Good Ol’ New York with Stan on vocals. Save It Pretty Mama.Yes, We Have No Bananas was backed by Gerry’s fine, muted trombone.
Old Folks at Home was changed to the name we are all familiar with, Swanee River, a great New Orleans tune, with Stan stomping off the beat with his foot.
Piano led into a tune they have never played before, There’ll Be Some Changes Made, an upbeat tune with the band playing skillful propulsive rhythms.
Sidney DeParis recorded the next one sometime in 1945-46 with pianist James P. Johnson.
Our own ‘James P. Johnson”, Ross Petot let loose with a high-powered rendition of Harlem Hotcha
Stan McDonald was in rare form after recovering from a hip injury from last year.
He was at ease singing many of the songs, and his clarinet solo on Bechet’s Petite Fleur was marvelous!
He was featured on both soprano sax and clarinet on Sidney Bechet’s Bechet’s Fantasy backed by the combustible rhythm combination of Al Ehrenfried, Dave Bragdon and Ross Petot.
Bechet recorded this in New York in 1946 with Art Hodes piano, Al Nicholas clarinet, Pops Foster bass and Danny Alvin drums. Stan sounds just like Bechet.
Ross took the intro to Lotus Blossom, done by the DeParis Brothers, Sidney and Wilbur in the 50’s and 60’s. They kept New Orleans Jazz alive;
Fabulous trumpet by Berklee Professor Jeff Stout!
Spreading Joy is what this band does! Finale was Wild Man Blues with the band in polyphonic ensemble, Al’s fine string bass solo, closing with clarinet and trombone in a dynamic finish!
There is great LIVE New Orleans Tradtional/Dixieland Jazz, Swing every Tuesday at the Sherborn Inn. Stan McDonald’s Blue Horizon Jazz Band continues to share it’s passion with us, in its 18th year, on May 21st.
The Trio, with Ted Casher on reeds, Jim Mazzy banjo/vocals, Eli Newberger tuba/piano, have been joined by a fine drummer, Jeff Guthery drums, for some really Hot Jazz.
The biggest surprise this evening was Rebecca Sullivan, a grad student at the New England Conservatory in jazz voice and contemporary improvisation. Eli is one of the NEC board members who’s participated in the mentoring program since its inception in the mid-1990’s. She and Eli were “assigned” there to one another in the Fall as “mentor” and “mentee.”
Although Eli had heard that Rebecca was great, he had no idea how great. “Did she ever bless us with her swinging and moving interpretations of this familiar material?”Eli.
She certainly did. She’s a natural, charming entertainer, with passion for the music.
She began with Gershwin’s Our Love is Here to Stay, and Sunny Side of the Street.
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Somewhere Over The Rainbow with her own unique version of the verse.
She instantly captivated the audience with her phrasing and tempo, drawn out pearly notes.
My Old Flame
I Can’t Give You Anything But Love, Baby
The Tubers pulled out an old war horse, That’s A Plenty. They deeply listen to each other and to the music itself, making it energetic and exciting.
The inexhaustible Ted Casher began Bei Mir Bis Du Schoen mixing klezmer clarinet and swing, with Eli backing on tuba and Jeff wild on drums. He introduced Just Squeeze Me (But Don’t Tease Me) on tenor sax, with Rebecca enjoying some high spirited scatting with Ted.
In complete control of the band, Ted is master on clarinet, tenor sax, soprano sax and even a dynamic vocal of Charlie on the MTA.
Now you citizens of Boston,
Don’t you think it’s a scandal
That the people have to pay and pay
Vote for Tom Menino
Fight the fare increase!
Get poor Charlie off the MTA.
You will hear him playing all over the six New England States, thanks to his most avid supporter, his wife Vel. (Thank you, Vel!)
We’ve been listening to Jimmy Mazzy since the early 70’s when he was playing with the New Cabaret Jazz Band at Billy Mitchell’s Postime in Nantasket Beach. He hasn’t changed a bit, and we’re still just as fascinated with his banjo and vocals: an exuberant Big Bad Bill (Is Sweet William Now), Just a Gigolo sounding like a soft love song, Jeff backing him on drums with nice soft brushes. Put it Right Here (Or keep it out there) Eli playing barely detectable low notes on tuba.
Jeff Guthery first played here last January with the Jazz Tuber Trio. Jeff is enrolled in Berklee College of Music.
With rhythmic pattern and tempo, and whispering brush strokes and accents, he plays HOT Traditional Jazz as if he were born to it!
Eli has an enormous commitment to two professions, preventing child abuse, and music. He is world famous for his tuba, but also gets very emotional playing the piano!
Jimmy Mazzy and Eli have been friends for close to 40 years. Weekend seminars on abuse at Children’s Hospital conducted by Eli and Carolyn Newberger in the early 70’s had intermittent breaks of tuba and banjo demonstrating abuse in the songs of the 20’s and 30’s.
Carolyn Newberger was playing washboard back in the mid-1960’s when she and Eli were Resident Directors at Yale’s International House for foreign students. They started a Friday Night Café, where musicians could Jam, and she played washboard.
Eli and Carolyn, who is an artist (see drawings below), child psychologist, and musician, have succeeded in sharing both their personal and professional lives, working together on several projects and often sharing the stage.
On their 50th anniversary, Eli pulled the washboard out of the attic, and Carolyn is back to being an enthusiastic player. With Carolyn on washboard, Ted on soprano sax, Jimmy banjo and scatting, all backed by tuba, we heard a vibrant rendition of Coney Island Washboard Roundelay.
This evening was filled with fast moving, energetic hot jazz. It was also an intimate, informal musical experience with friendship and camaraderie between the musicians and their followers and supporters. We’ll all be back.
The Jazz Tuber Trio, with Rebecca Sullivan and Jeff Guthery, will return to the Sherborn Inn on August 6, October 1, November 12, and December 3rd. Mark your calendars!
Dave Whitney trumpet, John Clark alto sax, Craig Ball clarinet/soprano sax,
Al Bernard tuba, Bill Reynolds drums, Robin Verdier ringleader/piano
It was the ending of a relentless, maddening New England winter, (with March throwing in an extra 2-4 feet of snow, just for the fun of it.)
But we were warm and cozy by the Sherborn Inn’s fireplace, transported back to the the early 20s with the Monte Carlo Jazz Ensemble playing the captivating dances of that fascinating era.
They opened with a 1925 tune by Gus Kahn & Ted Fiorito, Alone At Last, and Down Where The Sun Goes Down,1928, by great American composers, Isham Jones and Verne Buck. Dave Whitney substituted for Bob MaInnis, Monte Carlo’s regular cornetist.
Dave Whitney –
Well known in New England for his work with the Yankee Rhythm Kings, White Heat Swing Orchestra, and Chris Powers Orchestra, Dave was influenced by Louis Armstrong, Bix Beiderbecke, Bobby Hackett and many other great trumpeters of the pre-bop era.
Dave has been called “Premiere early style trumpeter” of this area and “Dean of swing trumpet”.
They played several high spirited Lu Watters tunes, including Shake It and Break It that he recorded just before Petrillo called a strike and shut all the bands down in the 40’s.
A new version of an old tune, How Am I to Know, was a nice fox trot by Jack King and NY Socialite Dorothy Parker. Stan Kenton used the chords for his Eager Beaver.
An All-Star front line, each is a leader in his own right, skilled at navigating the intricacies of these arrangements. Dave Whitney heads the Dave Whitney Big Band as well as several small groups; John Clark leads The Wolverine Jazz Band, a popular traditional jazz band; Craig Ball leads the famous White Heat Swing Orchestra. Together they play glorious ensemble that rarely leaves the 1920’s.
Albie Bernard controls this monstrous tuba — a 1960 Conn 24J Tuba that was a favorite of dance bands of 20’s and 30’s – with an American sound, and heavy brass.
The tuba was the sound of the train engine intro to My Cutie’s Due at Two to Two
Johnny Dodds, a premiere New Orleans clarinetist recorded this fun tune.
When Erastus Plays His Old Kazoo
Leader, arranger, pianist, Robin Verdier reigns. We can always count on Robin to present superior, intricately arranged, memorable jazz. He spends hours preparing, and there is usually a rehearsal so the musicians will be familiar with the arrangement.
Robin:
” I add a few arrangements to our book every year, and in making a setlist, I first pick some of the newest. Then I add requests from fans and musicians, and then tunes that we haven’t done for more than a year, and I mix them together so that the tempo and key change for each tune. The most important thing about our book is that I really like every tune– so picking some is always disappointing because we have to leave out the rest!”
He has a complete setlist of tunes, but there wasn’t time to get to all of them!
He explained how Lu Watters named his band Yerba Buena and started what we call ‘West Coast Jazz”. Lu Watters tired of the music he was playing and looked back at the 1920’s, when the music had bite and structure. He started a band with two cornets, like King Oliver. He named his band after Yerba Buena – an island in San Francisco Bay between Oakland and San Francisco. It means “nice peppermint” (mint plants were grown there at one time).
Watters wrote tunes associated with San Francisco, such as Big Bear Lake, where the Yerba Buena Band sometimes played. Big Bear Stomp – West coast folks of a certain age will get up and stomp!
Master time-keeper, Bill Reynolds uses rim-taps, choke cymbal.
His technique uses less-is-more, judicious dependable drumming.
My Honey’s Loving Arms
Lost
Yerba Buena Stomp
Sidney Bechet, a Creole from New Orleans, was the undisputed king of the soprano saxophone. He moved to France where he was accepted. He wrote many tunes, including Southern Sunset.
Craig Ball handled the Bechet tune effortlessly, playing elegant soprano sax.
That’s a tweed flat cap popular in the 20’s
In 1938 Joe Davis was Fats Waller’s manager. He has the credit for writing I’ll Dance at Your Wedding. but it is questionable. It has a very cynical beginning. Next was Happy Feet, a 1929 pop tune that was done by Bing Crosby with the King of Jazz, Paul Whitman.
They closed with a 1940 tune by Lu Watters, Emperor Norton’s Hunch. Norton was ridiculed because he had a hunch that someday there would be a bridge between San Francisco and Oakland. He died in San Francisco of apoplexy January 8, 1886.
His wish was fulfilled when the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge opened on November 12, 1936.
Our only wish is for an end to this New England March Madness!
