Holiday Spectacular 2011 at the Sherborn Inn
Videos by Harold McAleer
First group of musicians:
Jimmy Mazzy, John Kafalas, Dave Bragdon, Dave Whitney, Al Ehrenfried,
Stan McDonald, Robin Verdier, and Craig Ball |
The Sherborn Inn's Annual Holiday Spectacular played to a SRO crowd
on Sunday afternoon, December 11th. Even Dot & Norm Cyr with Bruce, and Marilyn
Snow drove down from Maine. Mrs. George Borgman and son Eric were
here. Barbara and Bill from New Hampshire. They weren't disappointed.
All the players have improvisational skills. The first band, led by
Stan McDonald, was instantly in sync with Roses of
Picardy. A
fine exchange
between soprano sax and clarinet on Georgia Cabin. Robin
did the intro to Hindustan, fine synergy between piano and cornet,
followed by New Orleans polyphonic ensemble.
2nd Group: Clark, Kafalas, Bragdon, Hughes,
Ehrenfried, McDonald, Gerler, Petot
Band 2 - Ross Petot on piano, Peter Gerler guitar for Craig, and
Jeff Hughes cornet for Rose of the Rio Grand. John Clark
was added on clarinet. (You never know what instrument he'll come
up with. He's catching up to Steve Wright.) Mollie Malone on
vocal.
Mollie announced "This is the French part of the program",
singing Django's Nuage beautifully in French. Fine McDonald soprano sax,
then clarinet and cornet trading 4's. Dans Les Rues D'Antibes,
a Sidney Bechet march, was marvelous..
Second set was directed by John Clark, starting with monstrous
baritone sax. Nobody will argue with that instrument. Craig, Dave, Ross,
Peter & rhythm section. Between The Devil &
The Deep Blue Sea was really swinging with that HOT front line!
 |
Dave Whitney
was featured on
Winter Weather, a tune that only Fats Waller and Dave
Whitney would do. |
 |
Craig and John duke it out After
You've Gone, a Jimmy Noone spectacular, challenging each other,
with the 'little guy' caught in the middle.
|
| The Brass stepped down for
Apex Blues, leaving Stan McDonald on soprano sax and John Clark
on clarinet to do this wonderful Jimmy Noone tune. |
 |
 |
Ross stays on top of what's happening, and
is always right there to
complement, fill in the holes. He listens intently and like a
good conductor, keeps everyone on
track. He played piano through the first intermission, portraying many
different piano styles in a continuous medley, You're the Top in his specialty,
stride. Dave Bragdon joined him for some Christmas music, Winter Wonderland. |
They did another tune with "a lot of legs",
Bugle Boy
Rag, and Ol' Miss, Stan taking the lead, John Clark comping on bari
sax. Nice.
 |
Second set was directed by Jeff Hughes, Jimmy Mazzy returned, with Robin, Jeff, Kafalas and
Mollie. She dedicated this song to Dave Whitney. Mollie Malone
Keeps Warm at the Sherborn Inn Holiday Spectacular, backed by Robin
Verdier on piano. |
Moving right along, Jimmy was featured on Whitman's From Monday
On. Dave Whitney with his indelible voice on trumpet, returned for Big Bear Stomp.
Hal McAleer was really busy taking videos. You can see all his
videos on You Tube - he's HTM1.
John Kafalas, Dave Bragdon, Al Ehrenfried, Jeff Hughes, Robin
Verdier, Dave Whitney John Clark and Craig Ball made up the band for
the last number in this set, a San Francisco number, with blistering cornet and
trumpet, tailgate trombone by Kafalas, ending in clever duet between
cornet and trumpet, with Clark comping on clarinet.
Jim and Carrie Mazzy were their own "Band". (They left the "Last
Minute Men" in Concord.)
|
Jim & Carrie in a
duet of a Christmas song you may never have heard:
"Buy, Buy,
Oh Baby, Buy - C.O.D. is how he'll get a lot for me." |
 |
Jimmy soloed on Christmas Time in New Orleans, accompanying himself
in
his own unique one-string banjo style. They continued with a number Louis Armstrong wrote, If We Never Meet Again, a favorite of Carrie's,
and Bessie Smith's
Santa Claus Blues. Carrie had the crowd participating with
I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.
(We all are dreaming - haven't seen snow since October.) We and Carrie
were singing the melody, with Jimmy harmonizing in the background.
You can hear Jim
& Carrie every Wednesday 8pm at the Colonial Inn in Concord, with
their 'Last Minute Men'. It's
always a fun night!
|
Flowers were presented
to Manager Ellen McDonald, for her 16 years of hard work for
continuously bringing our kind of music to the Sherborn Inn.
Flowers are not enough!! We are all grateful! |
 |
The Final set was led by Jeff Hughes. The first thing he did was thank the
fine
rhythm section. who played for the whole three hours. Al Ehrenfried's touching chords
on string bass were in constant dialogue behind the band. He's
another one that listens. Dave Bragdon is one of the finest trad/Dixieland
drummers in New England, and it was great to have John Kafalas back with
us. He has multiple Jimmy Mazzy Podcasts on line at
http://kafalas.net/jazz.
Things were moving fast. Craig, Jeff,
and Dave with Robin, Jimmy, Dave B. Al, John K, on rhythm, played a
poignant on
Come Back Sweet
Papa. McDonald returned, Dave and Craig stepping out, featuring Kafalas'
fine tailgate trombone on a great New Orleans tune,
Joe Avery's Piece. Clark was back on clarinet for Swipsy Cakewalk.
Dave Whitney's trumpet took the lead on a tune that's fun to play,
Smokey Motes., remembering it was Ray Smith's first theme by the Castle Jazz
Band, prior to his WGBH days on radio.
 |
Dave & Jeff had loose give-and-take duets on
Baby Won't You Please Come Home, first vocal was by Dave.
They are a great team, taking turns leading and
responding. But we couldn't help watching Jeff's
gratification on his vocal,. "Please
Come Home, I need some money."
Whitney sneaked in a bit of Gypsy. then
the two took it out together. Fantastic! |
Building up to the climax, they added more musicians, Mollie, Johnny Kafalas
on a tune Billie Holiday wrote, Billie's Blues, Stan on soprano sax, Dave on
muted trumpet, Kafalas muted trombone. Perfect. Added
Craig Ball. What A Little Moonlight Can Do, Dave
sneaking in Stumbling, nice give and take conversation between guitar and
banjo.John Clark back with Craig Ball and Stan McDonald, 1920 classic
featuring reeds. This little
group simulated Benny Goodman's whole Orchestra on Avalon, Jim
doing the vocal while the drummer was rim tapping. They brought
a rousing Avalon down to a respectable beat.
| Craig Ball picked up on it, with a tender clarinet solo so entrancing, you could have heard a pin drop. Joan
Murray was enthralled. |
 |
Now there were clarinets at each end, McDonald's soprano sax in the
middle, when they let Dave Bragdon loose, kicking up the dynamics.
Everyone went into a wild, jazzed-up, frenzy.
Three band leaders in the front line, how do you end this, who is in control? The youngest, John
Clark, suddenly gave a signal and brought everyone to an excellent, quick, ending. Unbelievable!
The future of our Dixieland jazz is in good hands!
|
When the music gets to you, you gotta move your
feet, like Barbara, Alice, and Sue, dancing up a storm!
|
 |
We're on overtime now. (Thank you for that, Phil Cocco - and for
letting us have jazz in December!) We had a special treat with a Holiday Tune
from a Judy Garland musical.
Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. John Clark almost
took his 'toys' home - he said "there are enough bodies up there".
But we wouldn't let him. Finale
arrived with twelve musicians on a great Joe Oliver Blues, Dippermouth Blues.
Finale Band
Everybody from Maine, New Hampshire, RI, Connecticut,
all exchanged a wistful 'Goodbye', wishing each other Merry Christmas, Happy
Hanukkah, Happy Holidays. There won't be any more Jazz here until
afterwards.
Marce
www.nejazz.com
* * *
*
From Myron Idelson:
“Sunday afternoon December 11th a group
of thirteen giants and craftsmen were musically crusading in the pursuit of
the sheer joy of traditional jazz. After the final moments of the
afternoon and the last song was played, it was the end. But it was
not a refutation of the sounds which will be encrusted in our emotions
and which will linger in our musical memories forever. It was
Hell, Fire, and Brimstone, and raised the sounds of Traditional Jazz to
new heights. I declare we were all
blessed with musicians Jeff Hughes, Dave Whitney, Craig Ball, Stan
McDonald, John Clark, John Kafalas, Ross Petot, Robin
Verdier, Jimmy Mazzy, Peter Gerler, Al Ehrenfried, Dave Bragdon and
Mollie Malone."
“With their supernatural musical wisdom, we were
blessed with their creativity and an abundance of their ability, and we
were blessed with their obedience to the divine fulfillment of all the
assets of Traditional Jazz.”
“It was an explosion of the truth of the musical
past, present, and what the future holds for the disciples of this
music.”
“It was a rescuing hug, and all the musicians were
Gods of music that removed all the pain that embraces our lives. Let’s
do it again!”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BACK TO TOP
|
| By Marce, Updated
Dec. 17, 2011 |
|
