SWING STUFF: THE IVORY CLUB BOYS ARE COMING! (May 31, 2014)

The Ivory Club Boys, a small hot band loosely based on Stuff Smith and his Onyx Club Boys of hallowed memory, will be playing a rare date at Armando’s in Martinez, California, on Satirday, May 31, 2014.  Admission will be $15; the gig will last two hours; the doors open at 7:30.  More information about Armando’s (a small cheerful room where I’ve heard Mal Sharpe and friends in the recent past) can be found here. Getting there isn’t difficult; I’ve accomplished this several times when California was entirely new to me: here is a map.

The Ivory Club Boys are a spinoff of the Hot Club of San Francisco and Le Jazz Hot — which only means they swing and guitarist Paul Mehling is at the helm, along with Evan Price (electric violin), Marc Caparone (cornet), Isabelle Fontaine (guitar and vocal), Sam Rocha (string bass). They aren’t a repertory band — or what this generation would call a “cover band” — which means they might perform songs outside the Smithian recorded canon, but that makes for an evening full of surprises.  And Paul’s announcement on Facebook mentions that we can expect surprise guests.

Let’s assume the Ivory Club Boys are a new entity to you, or that Martinez is off your radar, or even that you are a stubborn sort (Missouri-born or not) with folded arms, muttering “Show me.” Here’s some evidence: I’ve recorded the Ivory Club Boys twice: once at Rancho Nicasio, with Mehling, Price, Rocha, Clint Baker, and guest Mike Lipskin:

and more recently at Le Colonial SF with Mehling, Price, Baker, Rocha, and Fontaine:

Now do you see why I might encourage you to make the pilgrimage? I thought so.

May your happiness increase!

“CALIFORNIA BLUES” and OTHER PLEASURES: THE HIGH SIERRA JAZZ BAND at MONTEREY (March 8, 2014)

The High Sierra Jazz Band is the only musical aggregation able — or willing — to evoke Joe Oliver, Jimmie Rodgers, Paul Whiteman, and Peter Lorre in the space of a single set, as they do here. That versatility counts for a good deal with me. They also regularly honor Louis, Bix, Bechet, and Jelly Roll.

If you’d like an embodiment of true jazz loyalty, you have only to attend a High Sierra set where you can hear fans gently debating with each other about whose love for the band is stronger, deeper, and more durable.  “Well, when I first saw them in 1978,” begins one, and the person in the next seat says, “We’ve known Pieter long before that,” at which point I pretend to be adjusting the lighting on my camera in case the debate escalates.  But you get the idea.  

Here’s a set recorded on March 9, 2014, at JazzAge Monterey’s Jazz Bash by the Bay — the noble perpetrators being Pieter Meijers, leader, clarinet, soprano saxophone; Howard Miyata, trombone, vocal; Marc Caparone, cornet; Stan Huddleston, banjo; Earl McKee, sousaphone, vocal; Bruce Huddleston, piano; Charlie Castro, drums. 

In honor of the Creole Jazz Band and its many descendents, MABEL’S DREAM:

For M. Morton, WININ’ BOY BLUES:

CALIFORNIA BLUES, a soulful melding of two Jimmie Rodgers’ blue yodels (numbers 4 and 9) with Marc and Earl honoring not only the Singing Brakeman but his colleague Louis:

More for Louis, a three-trumpet version of POTATO HEAD BLUES, with the famous solo transcribed for Dick Hyman’s New York Jazz Repertory Concert, where the trumpets were originally Pee Wee Erwin, Joe Newman, and Jimmy Maxwell:

Tell the children to be good.  Here comes THE YAMA YAMA MAN (with the verse):

Back to M. Morton for the KANSAS CITY STOMPS:

And a Bixian duo, withLOUISIANA:

And a concluding FROM MONDAY ON:

Hot and expert.

May your happiness increase!