I’ve already posted this cheering bouquet of balloons, and I’m making my first trip to Fresno for “the sounds of Mardi Gras” early next month. And not simply in hope of finding balloons.
Now, we can all get down to the delightful business of planning what to see and hear. I’m sure there are people who simply amble through a festival, guided by the sounds they hear coming from one room or another. But I’m a man with a mission: I know the bands I particularly want to hear and video . . . so I have to plan. If I go to see X and her Jelly Whippers at 6, then I can’t (as Sir Isaac Newton reminds me) hear Y and her Joy Boys at the same time. So either in the solace of my apartment or perhaps on the airplane, I bring out the highlighters so that I can plot and plan . . .
NEWS FLASH: as of January 25, some last-minute changes – – – –
On Friday, in Salon C/D, the morning – afternoon sequence is now Young Bucs / Yosemite / Climax / Tom Hook / High Sierra. The evening sequence in C/D is now Bob Schulz, Dave Stuckey, and the rest unchanged. As far as my nearsighted eyes can tell, those are the only changes. But the sole way to be sure you have the right schedule is to go to the Sounds of Mardi Gras and pick up the current paperwork.
I believe that an even larger version — spread it out on the floor so the whole family can play — can be found here. Since this is my maiden voyage to this festival, I haven’t any videos of my own to share. But my colleagues have filled that need for years — one of them being the faithful Bill Schneider, who captured Bob Schulz’s band playing a lyrical YOU’RE DRIVING ME CRAZY at the 2018 festival — with lovely work from Bob, Kim Cusack, Ray Skjelbred, Doug Finke, Scott Anthony, Jim Maihack, and Ray Templin:
and a very hot MONA LISA from a 2010 performance by the New El Dorado Jazz Band co-led by Hal Smith and Clint Baker, with Marc Caparone, Howard Miyata, Mike Baird, Carl Sonny Leyland, Katie Cavera, and Georgia Korba. Not everyone in this band will be at the 2019 festival, but their music is preserved for us thanks to RaeAnn Berry:
I look forward to the 2019 banquet of good sounds. For details, visit the festival’s website and their Facebook page. But don’t take so long looking for the right color highlighter that this hot weekend passes you by.
May your happiness increase!
JAZZ LIVES 