The Holland-Coots Jazz Quintet, Nashville, Summer 2017: From left, Marc Caparone, Steve Pikal, Danny Coots, Evan Arntzen, Brian Holland. Photograph by Amy Holland.
More from the delightful Holland-Coots Jazz Quintet, a band which sprang full-grown to public acclaim in 2017. They are Brian Holland, piano; Danny Coots, drums; Steve Pikal, string bass; Marc Caparone, cornet, vocal; Evan Arntzen, clarinet, tenor saxophone, vocal. They soar; they woo.
Here they are outdoors in the very nice Gazebo Park during the 2018 Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri.
Their band version of RUSSIAN RAG has some kinship with the Wilbur DeParis performance, but do you know that Fats Waller recorded it, solo, in 1935?
A late-period Waller love song, from the score of EARLY TO BED, 1943, here crooned by Evan:
A romp by the magnificently creative yet short-lived Alex Hill, BABY BROWN:
And a very endearing love ballad, recorded but not composed by Fats, LET’S PRETEND THERE’S A MOON:
The HCJQ has also made a CD — appropriately, the music of Fats Waller. You can purchase it here and hear sound samples also.
This HCJQ will be playing the Evergreen Jazz Festival at the end of this month, and next spring they will be part of the Stomptime Musical Adventure Inauguaral Jazz Cruise, April 27 to May 4, 2019, “departing from Miami to the Eastern Caribbean (San Juan, Charlotte Amalie, Punta Cana, and Nassau) on the Celebrity Equinox for 7 nights of music and fun.”
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 