Michael Moran of Amazing Things Arts
Center introduced the New Black Eagle Jazz Band as a Premier Jazz band.
They certainly got the old firehouse vibrating with Traditional Jazz on
a frigid Friday night! The band included 5 of the founding members,
“Pam” Pameijer on drums, Bob Pilsbury on piano, Peter Bullis (with his
red socks) on banjo, Stan Vincent on trombone and Tony Pringle on cornet
and vocals plus long time member Billy Novick on clarinet and alto sax
and, guest, Jesse Williams on string base.
The audience (a full house),
ranged in age from a toddler, who sometimes joined in joyfully, to the
older folks who follow traditional jazz.
The New Black Eagles got heads swaying and feet
tapping with the 1919 Rag followed by the Gravier Street Blues.
When Your Hair Has Turned Gray came with a
warning - gray hair would come to Jesse and the toddler someday too.
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea
featured Bob Pilsbury on piano backed by the rhythm section.Peter’s banjo introduced Jelly Bean Blues.
Red Wing closed the first set.
At the beginning of the break, Stan commented on
the “great room” and piano at Amazing Things with acoustics that allowed
them to play without amplification.
The second set began with Jelly Roll Morton’s Froggie Moore Rag followed by a rousing The Old Stomping Ground
which included some competition with nearby sirens. I Would Do Anything For You was followed by
a beautiful Body and Soul featuring Billy Novick. An upbeat
spiritual, The Old Rugged Cross was followed by Panama,
“not to be confused with the Panama Rag”, came next. As Tony Pringle
was talking, Bob Pilsbury stood up to “take notes”.
An encore, The Purple Rose of Cairo (not the
one used in the movie), came in response to a strong ovation and Mike
Moran’s “You are not going to let them get away with that, are you?"
It was an evening of great music interspersed with
bits of history and humor. The toddler is so lucky to have a Mom to
introduce him to this wonderful music at a young age
.