I FEEL SUCH A THRILL (Jazz at Chautauqua, Sept. 22, 2012)

This one’s for my friend Sarah Boughton Holt and brothers Bill and David — another glorious performance from the memorable Jazz at Chautauqua weekends created and overseen by Joe Boughton.

What would a jazz festival be without a tribute to Horace Gerlach — that is also an evocation of Louis Armstrong? Here are just the people to do it in their own way: Duke Heitger, trumpet, Dan Block, clarinet and vocal, Scott Robinson, tenor saxophone and taragoto; Dan Barrett, trombone; Mike Greensill, piano; Howard Alden, guitar; Kerry Lewis, string bass; Bill Ransom, drums.

I love Dan Block’s crooning (what a fine singer he is!) and the riffs that make this a BAND rather than an all-star collation of soloists waiting for their solo turns:

How fortunate we were to be there.  Share some of that good fortune with people who like it Hot.

May your happiness increase!

YOUNGBLOODS FOR LOUIS: GUILLERMO PERATA, FERNANDO MONTARDIT, JON-ERIK KELLSO, SCOTT ROBINSON, NEAL MINER at THE EAR INN (August 4, 2019)

A piece of paper says that Louis Armstrong was born on August 4, 1901, instead of the July 4, 1900, he always claimed.  In this, I take the testimony of his mother, who called him her “firecracker baby,” as prime.  And I will argue this point until no more copies of WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD can be found.  Of course, he deserves every birthday celebration one can imagine, ideally 365 of them every year. 

But just yesterday, at the Ear Inn, on 326 Spring Street, there was a little celebration in the proper spirit.  Louis loved the South — which he would have defined as his native Louisiana — but he would have been very happy to greet two musicians from that region, more or less (Mexico City and Buenos Aires): cornetist Guillermo Perata and guitarist Fernando Montardit, who sat in with the EarRegulars — Jon-Erik Kellso, trumpet; Scott Robinson, reeds and F-trumpet, and Neal Miner, string bass — on a properly celebratory SWING THAT MUSIC.  And they all do:

Louis smiles his approval.  I hope you do, also.

May your happiness increase!

“SWING OUT, YOU CATS!”: The YERBA BUENA STOMPERS SHOW US HOW (October 6, 2011)

That generous fellow Tom Warner took his video camera to the Glacier Jazz Stampede in Kalispell, Montana, just a few days ago, and captured this wonderful performance by John Gill’s hot band, the Yerba Buena Stompers — of SWING THAT MUSIC.

My heart gets a chill when I hear this song (especially when it’s taken at the just-right tempo it is here) not because the room is chilly, but because it summons up the Fountainhead, Louis Armstrong.  And the members of the band feel this too: touched by the glory of Louis!  Watch John Gill’s face break into an even broader grin when Chris Tyle exhorts the band to SWING! in a deep evocative voice.

What joy!

The YBS (in this incarnation) are John Gill, banjo and vocals; Conal Fowkes, piano; Clint Baker, tuba; Kevin Dorn, drums; Tom Bartlett, trombone; Orange Kellin, clarinet; Leon Oakley, cornet; Chris Tyle, cornet and vocal.

I hope that the joy these musicians send out into the world bounces back to them every day: they deserve it and more.  And that wish includes Tom Warner, my hero for moving forward during Kevin’s solo to make sure we could see those sticks in motion.

Swing out, you cats!

P.S.  I’ve never been to Kalispell, Montana . . . this makes me wonder what the early part of October 2012 holds for me and the Beloved?  I’m going to check out http://glacierjazzstampede.com., and I suggest you do likewise.

I do know — not to have jazz festivals compete for your attention — that the Yerba Buena Stompers with a similar personnel will be at the 32nd Annual San Diego Thanksgiving Dixieland Jazz Festival (http://www.dixielandjazzfestival.org) and I most assuredly am going to be there . . .