I had a rare treat the other Saturday. Steve Taddeo, a local drummer, called to invite me to an open-air swing concert he was running at the Farmer's Market in downtown Waltham, and ,of course, I grabbed my camera and headed over there.

 

He had assembled a gang of local musicians that he called "The Swing Senders" to entertain the public as they wandered among the open stands of food, fruit, and other items.

 

It was a beautiful June day. (The band was in the shade but I was in the sun and wound up with a somewhat reddish complexion after the 2-hour gig.).

 

There was 90-year-old Al Vega on vibes, Craig Ball and John Clark on clarinet and reeds, two horns, Pat Stout on trumpet and Paul Monat on cornet, Justin Meyer on the string bass, Ross Petot on the Roland keyboard and Steve on drums. He also had two vocalists, Sophia Stevens and Steve Marvin.

 

I knew several of the musicians but not all and they turned out to be all consummate pros. They needed no music, knowing every tune in the American Songbook and how to adjust - on the fly -  to every nod and nuance of a fellow player.

 

I was particularly entranced by the call-and-response duets of the reeds and the horns as a lick from one player would be answered and one-upped by a response from his counterpart...truly delightful!

 

You can hear (and see) that in this short video I made of one of the classics in the repertoire, "Just You, Just Me", a 1929 Hollywood film song by Jesse Greer and Raymond Klages. Watch Craig and John duke it out on the reeds and Justin Meyer bowing the bass, an excellent example of good musicians enjoying themselves as they invent while they go along...and that's jazz!