I was on the phone with my dear Aunt Ida today (you all know her by now) and our words turned to our friend and hero Ray Skjelbred. I said, “Gee, I should post more of those videos of the Cubs that Rae Ann Berry (another friend and heroine) took at the jazz festival in June! ”
Here are four more that show why we love Ray for so many reasons! And his Cubs: Katie Cavera on guitar; Clint Baker on bass; Jeff Hamilton on drums; Kim Cusack on reeds.
Something for Bix! BIG BOY:
And for Fats! SQUEEZE ME:
And for Joe Sullivan! GOT IT AND GONE:
And what the gentle-spirited but hard-swinging Mr. Skjelbred is all about: CHICAGO RHYTHM:
Music by jazz masters — music to feel better by! Thanks to Aunt Ida, Rae Ann, Ray, Kim, Katie, Clint, and Jeff, as ever.
JAZZ LIVES 
…and feel better, I do!! I love these musicians and their music,,They are all masters of their instruments…and oh how I enjoy. That fella on the piano is one of a kind..I think I would recognize his playing anywhere, and as I have said before, “He holds a special place in my heart,.” as do you, my beloved nephew. Thank you so much for this.
Yeah! It’s great to know there are still folks playing this sort of stuff. Especially nice to hear that version of Sullivan’s Got It and Gone: didn’t Joe originally record it on a session with Mr Bechet?
Talking of J. S: has anyone ever read Roy Fisher’s poem ‘The Thing About Joe Sullivan’? It’s one of the few (along, perhaps, with Larkin’s ‘For Sidney Bechet’) really good jazz poems.
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