Tag Archives: Primavera

Dan Gabel Hot Jazz at Primavera Ristorante, April 12, 2018

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African-American 16 yr old pianist, his 19 yr old brother bass, and Dan Gabel (29?) drum and trumpet

Dan Gabel’s Hot Jazz Trio

Dan Gabel trumpet/drums, Conway Campbell Jr. bass, Cameron Campbell piano

Dan Gabel said his Hot Jazz would present something different – he was right. Fresh from directing a successful play of Cinderella with a 30- piece orchestra, Dan continued with this amazing Trio.  He introduced two of his students from Holy Name High School, Worcester MA.

The Campbell brothers (16 and 18) may be young, but are already playing like Pro’s, “improvising songs of the 30’s and 40’s in a modern vein, but always coming back to the melody”   said expert Jerry Wadness).

19 yr old African-American on double bass

Conway Campbell Jr.

 

 

They started with Honeysuckle Rose and Softly As In The Morning Sunrise, with marvelous solos by bassist Conway.  Not only is he a fabulous bassist, but he did the arrangements for Night and Day, and also Jimmy Van Heusen’s It Could Happen To You. He took the vocal on a tune from Annie Get Your Gun, Love is  Wonderful, and played slap bass on All Of Me.

 

 

 

16 yr old African American on keyboard

Cameron Campbell

 

They slowed it down for a special tune,  Benny Goodman’s 1937 Body and Soul, with younger brother Cameron on piano.  He can sing too, taking vocal on Georgia On My Mind.

 

 

 

Cameron plays melodies with a level of musical sophistication way beyond his years!  Here he is on Duke Ellington’s Cottontail.

Dan Gabel gave us some Millis history with the 1921 At Sundown.   Cliquot Club Soda employed many people from Millis and local towns at the time.

The Trio then played a special feature. “I’m in the Mood For Love” is a 1932 by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh. In 1949, saxophonist James Moody recorded the tune in Sweden, and it became known as “Moody’s Mood for Love.” In 1952, Eddie Jefferson added lyrics to the solo, making it a #1 R & B hit for King Pleasure.

We’ve known Dan Gabel as a trombone player – especially lately, spreading Vaughn Monroe’s legacy.  Here he enjoyed playing trumpet and drums at the same time.  He said “It was fun”.  Here’s Dinah:

Other tunes played by the Trio:
East of The Sun
Tangerine
All of You
A Lovely Night (from Cinderella)
Work Song (Nate Adderly)

They closed with a fantastic A Train, in triple-time, with Conway taking the role of leader.

The enthusiastic audience applauded throughout the whole evening.  We all hope they will return so we can hear them again!!

(My apologies for the quality of the videos – the brothers should have had more light, and microphones should have been louder.   Next time!  Marce)

Eli & The Hot Six at Primavera Ristorante, March 15, 2018

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7 pc trad jazz - swing band

Eli and The Hot Six

Bo Winiker & Phil Person (trumpet), Ted Casher (clarinet/tenor & soprano sax), Herb Gardner (trombone), Bob Winter (piano), Jimmy Mazzy (banjo/vocals),  Eli Newberger (leader/tuba), Bob Tamagni (drums) & Elaine Woo (vocals)  .

After enduring three Nor’easters in three weeks, with loss of electricity, cancelled gigs, these musicians were raring to go!!  They hit it hot and fiery with That’s a Plenty that brought everyone to attention and sitting up on the edge of their seats.

Ted playing tenor sax

Ted Casher on smokin’tenor sax

 

 

 

Then Ted took out his tenor sax for a moody, smoldering Blue and Sentimental that turned our insides to jelly!

 

 

 

 

smiling and singing

Elaine Woo

Eli called on Elaine Woo, who had prepared a list of songs for spring, including the verses – many of were melancholy:  Spring is Here (why doesn’t my heart go dancing?)  Michel LeGrand’s You Must Believe In Spring.
She moved to something more cheerful – a Broadway tune that persuades flowers to bloom.  It begins as a shy prayer and ends up a classic Broadway Belt: Hurry! It’s Lovely Up Here.

 

clarinet, two trumpets, trombone

Front line: Ted Casher, Bo Winiker, Phil Person, Herb Gardner

Musicians were soaring!  But there’s no doubt who is in charge here, with Eli pointing to each one, each picked up spontaneously, improvising straight from the heart!

Winter at keyboard

Bob Winter

 

 

 

Bob Winter swung with expressive joy on Carioca, from a 1933 film Flying Down to Rio.

 

 

 

 

 

Phil with hair in long white pony tail, plays trumpet

Phil Person

 

 

 

Phil Person was featured with Duke’s soulful, sensitive Satin Doll.

 

 

 

 

 

smiling, holding trumpet and handkerchief

No one does Louis better than Bo!

 

 

 

Bo Winicker instinctively plays Louis’s Hello Dolly;

 

 

 

 

playing trombone up front

Herb Gardner

 

 

 

Herb Gardner played mellow trombone and sang Richard Whiting’s She’s Funny That Way.

 

 

 

 

hitting snare with one stick and top hat stand with the other

Bob Tamagni

 

 

 

Bob Tamagni’s sound generates dynamism and perfect propulsive thrust, driving the band.

 

 

 

 

Eli introduced a young student of Bob Winter’s, Rui (pronounced Ray) Zhong who plays both piano and Euphonium. With Jimmy, Rui and Eli took a turbo charged duet on Summertime.

euphonium, banjo, tuba

Rui , Jimmy Mazzy, Eli Newberger

Until a couple of years ago, Elaine was an Internal Medicine Specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and she only knew two songs. She reprised them for us, with all lyrics memorized:  I Got Rhythm, and Embraceable You.  Now retired and singing full-time, Elaine has become a seasoned professional vocalist, and belts them out with fervor.

Elaine singing with the whole band

Elaine Woo belts out a song!

Eli and The Hot Six closed with a march around the room on a flaming Tiger Rag.

That left us in a much better mood than when we arrived!

Eli and The Hot Six are here at Primavera on the 3rd Thursday of every month – next one is April 19th.  Come join in the fun!!

Wolverine Jazz Band at Primavera Ristorante February 22, 2018

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7 pc. trad Jazz Band

Wolverine Jazz
Band

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.

trombone, cornet, clarinet with

Tom Boates, Jeff Hughes, John Clark in Front Line

Clark playing bass sax set on seat of chair

John Clark on bass saxophone

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.

 

 

 

Ross looking up and smiling (this is rare - he never smiles when he's playing.)

Ross Petot, teacher and stride pianist

 

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 on open bell trombone

Tom Boates

 

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.)

Jimmy singing, Jeff playing cornet

Jimmy Mazzy and Jeff Hughes

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..

Dave Didriksen

 

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.

 

Rick looking up, playing tiba

Rick MacWilliams

 

 

 

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.

Wolverine Jazz Band at Primavera September 28, 2017

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6 piece Trad Jazz Band no trombone

Wolverine Jazz Band

Jeff Hughes trumpet/flugelhorn, John Clark leader, clarinet/alto sax, Herb Gardner piano, Jimmy Mazzy banjo/vocals, Rick MacWilliams tuba, Dave Didriksen drums

By Bill Falk

Listening to this group reminded me of traditional jazz of yesteryear – those days of King Oliver and ballrooms full of followers.

Despite missing their trombonist, band members meshed together beautifully – mixing brilliant solos with great backup.

behind music stand on alto sax

John Clark

 

 

John Clark led the band plus did an excellent job on clarinet and alto sax. He also vocalized on The Preacher, Stairway to Paradise and Egyptian Ella.

 

 

 

 

 

on banjo, singing into mic

Jimmy Mazzy

 

 

Jimmy Mazzy was brilliant on banjo – when isn’t he terrific? His vocal on Take Your Tomorrow was very impressive, and his solos on Chasing the Blues Away, Monday Date and How Deep is the Ocean were outstanding.

 

 

 

Jeff n muted trumpets (wearing brown wing-tip shoes)

Jeff Hughes

 

 

Jeff Hughes trumpet and flugelhorn never disappoints. I was particularly excited by the full sound he produced on the flugelhorn on
I Surrender Dear. He delivered great solos on a variety of tunes throughout the program.

 

 

 

 

at keyboard, singing

Herb Gardner

 

Herb Gardner on keyboard contributed vocals on Staten Island and The Preacher. He is a vital ingredient to the group’s sound because of his ability to backup others and hold things together.

 

 

 

Sitting, with tuba braced on chair between his legs

Rick MacWilliams

 

 

 

Rick MacWilliams on tuba soloed occasionally while helping the rhythm section keep a steady pace. He works the instrument like a saxophone.

 

 

 

tapping on snare drum

Dave Didriksen

 

 

Dave Didrikson was the drummer – not flashy but terrific at keeping the beat. He did take an occasional brief solo, but he played much like the drummers from way back – unsung but important.

 

 

 

The band also played What’s the Use, A Foggy Day in London Town, Froggy More, There Ain’t No Sweet Band Worth the Salt of My Tears, Lonely Melody, Oh Miss Hannah, Struttin’ With Some Barbecue, I Ain’t Gonna Tell Nobody, Sleepy Lagoon, The Work Song, Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans and ended a wonderful evening with their signature Wolverine Blues.

Make it a priority to see this group in person! They get into the roots of jazz as invented in New Orleans very successfully.

 

By Bill Falk
Marce Photos

 

 

Eli & The Hot Four at Primavera September 21, 2017

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keyboard, tuba, drum, trumpet, trombone

Eli & The Hot Four

Phil Person trumpet, Herb Gardner trombone, Bob Winter keyboard, Eli Newberger tuba, Bob Tamagni drums, Elaine Woo and Watson Reid vocals.

These fine musicians had  a chance to stretch out and strut their stuff, with Ted Casher, Jimmy Mazzy and Bo Winiker absent.

blowing muted trumpet

Phil Person

 

 

Phil Person knows a countless number of tunes; he played a sweet, flawless,  Stardust.  Beautiful!

 

 

 

 

on trombone,, with drums in background

Herb Gardner

 

 

Herb Gardner  sang and played a tune of his choice,  I Cried For You.  He’s been on call with either trombone or piano with bands from here to New Jersey.

 

 

 

Bob playing keyboard with a big smile on his face

Bob Winter

 

 

 

Bob Winter took a solo on After You’ve Gone and Begin The Beguine.  He starts off light and airy and continues like a veritable classic  concerto!

 

 

 

Elaine belting out a vocal

Elaine Woo

 

 

Powerhouse vocalist Elaine Woo belted out  Route 66, leading the band with Route 66 and a WILD Give Me Some Flim Flam Sauce.  She’s our new Red Hot Mama!

She’s thoroughly enjoying retirement from the Medical Community and popping up anywhere there’s Jazz to be sung!

 

 

And that was just the beginning!  They threatened us with all 17 verses of South Rampart St. Parade, began with a drum roll-off, 32 bars – it was a barn burner!

Trumpet  and tuba took a duet followed by piano and clarinet duo on a complicated Apex Blues. 

Watson smiling and singing into mic

Watson Reid

 

 

 

Watson Reed got the nonsense songs, starting with Flat Foot Floogie

 

 

 

Eli pulled off an amazing  tuba solo with a Latin tinge on Tico Tico.

Eli up front on tuba, with Bob Winter on keys in back

Eli Newberger

They closed with a Dixie War Horse, At The Jazz Band Ball.  With three Berklee Professors, it was a delightful  evening of tunes that we generally do not hear at Primavera.

They will be back at Primavera Ristorante on October 19th.  We hope everyone will join us to hear this World Class Band!

TUNES:
Blue Skies
I Cried For You
Blue Monk
After You’ve Gone
Route 66
Stardust
Flat Foot Floogie
Frim Fram Sauce
South Rampart St. Parade
Apex Blues
Every Time We Say Goodbye (Elaine)
Begin The Beguine
This Joint is Jumpin’ (Reid)

Riverboat Stompers at Primavera September 14, 2017

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Steve Straus leader/clarinet, Neil Flewellen cornet, Frank Batchelor trombone, Jimmy Mazzy banjo/vocals, Phil Hower piano, Pierre Lemieux tuba, Rich MacMillan drums.

7 piece Trad Jazz Band

Riverboat Stompers

The Riverboat Stompers are a seven-piece ensemble specializing in Traditional and Dixieland Jazz of the 20’s to 40’s. Members of this band come from towns all over Eastern New England.  They mix old New Orleans music from the 20’s with tunes from the ‘recent’ 60’s.  They obviously love this music – they’ve dedicated their lives to it.

They kicked it off with livewire ensemble on Struttin’ With Some Barbecue.  This is fine New Orleans jazz, with cornet, trombone and clarinet against a four-piece rhythm section.

Jimmy Mazzy sat in on banjo singing many of his inimitable vocals, starting with From Monday On.

siting, passionately playing clarinet

Steve Straus

 

Steve Straus leads this rambunctious band on clarinet with amiable, good-natured humor.  There is great passion and intensity in his clarinet playing.  He sang several songs, especially adding drama to Ace In The Hole.

 

 

 

sitting, playing cornet

Neil Flewellen

 

 

Neil Lewelling was featured on Sleepy Time Down South. He plays a 60’s Getsen cornet, beautiful rich tone, playing spontaneous improvisations, with admirable technique and solos that move lightly from phrase to phrase.

 

 

 

 

Frank standing, playing trombone

Frank Batchelor

 

 

Frank’s trombone sound is deep and lush, and melodic and mellow when using several mutes.  One of his favorites is a Fats Waller tune played by The Paris Washboard – Our Love Was Meant To Be.  They played it with only four players – trombone, tuba, piano and drum.

 

 

 

Phil on keyboard

Phil Hower

 

Phil’s playing offers just the right chords behind all the soloists.  Phil Hower’s heroes are the great stride pianists of the 1920’s and ’30’s, and he does his utmost to emulate their technique and style.  When the band took its first break – after playing for an hour and a half, he sat by himself playing I Love a Piano!

 

 

 

Jimmy Mazzy

 

 

Jimmy Mazzy’s soul-warming vocals are encouraged; he really gets his head around the lyrics.  The band kept him busy – check out the list of tunes below to see how many he sang.

 

 

 

Pierre playing large tuba

Pierre Lemieux

 

 

 

Pierre LeMieux was back after a lengthy absence.  He plays bass lines on tuba and extends that by turning the monstrous horn into a viable solo instrument.  He videotaped the whole evening, and we hope to get some of them later.

 

 

on minimal drums, bass and snare, 3 cymbals

Rich MacMillan

 

You feel the rhythm rather than hear the drum beats by Rich Malcom.  He is a knowledgeable Dixieland Jazz drummer and maintains that essential Trad beat.  His unique moves highlight the structure of the music by changing color, density, and dynamics on a minimal drum set.  He sometimes softens reverberation by drumming with his hands!

 

 

The Riverboat Stompers closed with a rowdy Wang Wang Blues, then softly segued into ¾ time with  ‘Till We Meet Again.  They are wonderful and dynamic musicians, fun to watch and great to listen to.  They inspire one another; you can easily tell this is the music they cherish.  So do we, and sincerely hope to hear them again!
http://www.riverboatstompers.com

TUNES:

Struttin’ With Some Barbecue
From Monday On, Jimmy
Putting on The Ritz, Steve
Sweet Sue, Jimmy
My Blue Heaven, Neil
Downtown Strutters Ball, Jimmy
Rosetta, Jimmy
Do What Ory Say, Jimmy
Beale St. Blues,  Jimmy
Lady Be Good, Jimmy
Exactly Like You, Jimmy
Ace in The Hole, Steve
Sunny Side of the Street
Our Love Was Meant To Be
Wang Wang Blues
‘Till We Meet Again