September Columns
Jazz in the Heartland | View from Canada | Jazz in Mountain Time |
Continued: Yankee Jazz Beat
McDonald's Blue Horizon Five appeared Aug. 7 at Ma Glockner's Restaurant, 151 South Maple Street, Bellingham, Mass. With McDonald on soprano sax, clarinet and vocals, were trombonist John Kafalas, guitarist Eric Baldwin, bassist Al Ehrenfried and drummer Richard Malcolm. The quintet is featured the first Thursday (7-10 p.m.) monthly at Ma Glockner's. Call (508) 966-1085 for additional information and reservations.
Doctor John Clark's Wolverine Jazz Band has been very busy this summer. WJB played at Willows at Westboro, Mass., July 9; the common, Walpole, Mass., July 15; the gazebo on the common, Norwood, Mass., July 16; the Bar Harbor Music Festival, Bar Harbor, Me., July 20; the common, Stoneham, Mass., July 31; and Payson Park, Belmont, Mass., Aug. 13.
Reedman Craig Ball's White Heat Swing Orchestra, with Jody Ebling singing in the style of Peggy Lee, appeared at the Boston Harbor Hotel on July 16, and Bobby Vinton sang there with WHSO in the styles of Bobby Darin and Buddy Greco on July 23.
The Roseland Ballroom Dinner Theater and Cabaret and Jazz Club, Taunton, Mass., had its grand opening July 11. The event was hosted by Carol O'Shaughnessy, known as Boston's first lady of cabaret, and featured singers Dane Vannatter, Aurel D'Agostino, Eric Larivee, and the Roseland Ballroom Singing Wait Staff. Roseland features live entertainment, with a different show, including classic jazz, every Friday evening. The 20-piece Beantown Swing Orchestra, led by Frank Hsieh, played Roseland on July 25. The Beantown players are students at the Berklee College of Music and the New England Conservatory of Music, both in Boston. For additional information, go to www.RoselandProductions.com or call (508) 828-9189.
In Connecticut, on July 20, cornetist Fred Vigorito's Galvanized Jazz Band (with trombonist Jim Fryer, banjoist Joel Schiavone and vocalist Jane Campedelli as guests) performed in concert on the Guilford Green. Art Hovey's Sugarfoot Youth Band joined in for the grand finale.
Vigorito reports the sad news that Albert (Smokey) Ruggiero, long-time GJB fan, passed away on July 2. Vigorito and his GJB members expressed condolences to his family.
Also in Connecticut, drummer Bill Logozzo's Heartbeat Jazz Band (with trombonist Skip Hughes) was at Oliver's, Essex, July 3 and (with Hughes and banjoist Bob Price) July 17, and the band performed at the Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival, July 25 to 27.
Bassist Scott Kahn and guitarist Phil Valie were featured July 18 and Aug. 1 at the Cafe Allegre in Madison, Conn.
On July 23, trombonist Jim Fryer appeared with banjoist/vocalist Cynthia Sayer's band at Roger Sherman Baldwin Park, Greenwich, Conn.
The Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival has announced that it will be held in Wallingford, Conn., next year.
In Maine, on June 13 (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.), trumpeter Kent Austin, drummer Steve Grover, guitarist Tony Gaboury and bassist Oliver Watkinson held a jazz workshop with the Brunswick Junior High Jazz Band, directed by Heidi Anderson. That evening the band and the workshop instructors' quartet were featured in concert at the Frontier Cafe. Clarinetist Brad Terry sat in as a whistler and scat singer, and Tom Porter sat in on piano. The concert was a complete success, according to Grover.
If you have news of traditional jazz, swing or ragtime in New England, please e-mail me at algeob@aol.com or call me at (781) 762-9344. I'd like to learn more about what is happening in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont.
September 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag
P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.