For me, the 2012 San Diego Thanksgiving Dixieland Jazz Festival — or whatever more informal name you might know it by, such as the San Diego Jazz Fest — started with a shuffle. A Shuffle is a good thing when it’s created by the Yerba Buena Stompers, a band full of power and delicacy, deeply rooted in the great New Orleans traditions.
The heroes onstage are John Gill, banjo and vocals; Leon Oakley and Duke Heitger, trumpets; Tom Bartlett, trombone; Orange Kellin, clarinet; Conal Fowkes (Grammy-winner!), piano; Clint Baker, tuba; Kevin Dorn, drums. (I have a special fondness for two-trumpet interplay: Leon and Duke light up the room.)
NEW ORLEANS SHUFFLE:
EVERY TUB:
PUT ON YOUR OLD GREY BONNET:
PERDIDO STREET BLUES:
MINSTRELS OF ANNIE STREET:
LONESOME BLUES:
It was a splendid way to start a most rewarding weekend — I look forward to spending Thanksgiving amidst jazz friends in San Diego this year! Paul Daspit certainly knows how to make us feel thankful.
May your happiness increase.
It sounds as if Lu Watters and Bob Scobey came back as Leon and Duke. Perhaps there really is something to this reincarnation thing after all.