This was a truly delightful set, balancing neatly between uproarious riot and precise tribute, where the participants paid tribute to New Orleans / Chicago clarinetist Johnny Dodds by evoking some of his less famous recordings. Those expert participants were Claus Jacobi, reeds; Matthias Seuffert and Thomas Winteler, clarinet; Rico Tomasso, cornet; Martin Litton, piano; Spats Langham, Jacob Ullberger, Martin Wheatley, banjo; Malcolm Sked, bass; Nicholas Ball, washboard. (That’s the collective personnel: you’ll see / hear who is playing on each number.)
Here’s the first part, as captured at the Whitley Bay Classic Jazz Party on November 8, 2014.
I note with pleasure how happy the musicians look — and that’s no stage joke. The most accurate emotional barometer on this little stage is the visage of one Nick Ball, percussionist supreme: he looks as if he’s going to explode with rhythmic joy. You can imagine how happy I was from behind my camera.
IDLE HOUR SPECIAL (with an unexpected cameo by a t-shirted jazz fan at 4:00, who momentarily blocked the view but thankfully not the sound — I knew he was a “jazz fan” because it was written on his shirt, thus saving me the need to speculate):
ORIENTAL MAN:
39TH AND DEARBORN:
CARPET ALLEY BREAKDOWN:
More to come. And you might want to investigate this year’s Mike Durham Classic Jazz Party. It’s a place where such things happen — beautifully — throughout a long weekend.
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 
you have to smile when there is a wash board being played…yes?
>
Not always, because sometimes it can be a weapon of mass distraction — but Nick Ball is a sure cure for spiritual despair.
Here’s a happy face looking at their happy faces! Superb musicians, The clarinet player just about blew my socks off! Wonderful post, NM.
Pingback: THE JOHNNY DODDS JUBILEE, PART TWO at the WHITLEY BAY CLASSIC JAZZ PARTY (Nov. 8, 2014) | JAZZ LIVES