Jazz in the Fall 2018 - by Jim Woodford

Jazz in the Fall 2018

Dayton area and beyond

and

a tribute to long time Cincinnati area drummer

John Von Ohlen

known worldwide as a drummer for the Stan Kenton Big Band

This blog edition is long overdue and covers a jazz group with a Kettering High School jazz program connection, The Huntertones; the final Levitt Pavilion concert of the summer; local jazz musicians at The Front Porch Festival in Yellow Springs; The Bill Burns combo at the Dayton Art Institute and a trip to cincy to hear vocalist April Aloisio and one new jazz venue. Let the journey begin.

On 9-20-18 I managed to hear The Huntertones at the Levitt Pavilion. While I had heard the group once before at a previous Miami Valley Summer Jazz Camp performance – the trombone player & beat box guru, Chris Ott, is a Kettering grad. They all went to OSU in Columbus where the band got its start and they even have a sousaphone player, for you OSU fans they call him their “i dotter” for script Ohio. These guys have a lot of fun and have a brand new CD just released, Passport, which reflects influences from their performing around the world; “a deep drive into the endless inspiring possibilities of global collaborations.” The first cut off the new CD, “Clutch” was performed at Levitt. The Huntertones are a bunch of high energy musicians who have lots and lots of fun! The band performed what they call a Michael Jackson “mashup” with pieces of about 15 songs which really got the crowd going. The Huntertones are all over the internet so check them out.

Jazz Advocate Board Member, Sarah Woodford, attended the Yellow Springs Front Porch Festival on 10-6-18 and got to listen to Jason Swann on saxophone, Grant “King” Koeller on bass, Greg Dearth on guitar and Ayn Woods on vocals. Per usual for a Yellow Springs event, it was pretty laid back but a lot of fun was had by all (also per usual for a Yellow Springs event). It is worth note that this was the first event of its kind in YS with many bands of different genres playing at the same time on different porches. The weather was perfect, there were dog walkers, folding chair watchers, porch hoppers, car driving folk from all over, and local horse carriages too!   You can also hear jazz on a regular basis at the Wine Emporium in Yellow Springs so get over there and see what they’re putting down.

The eleventh of October found Jane, Sarah and Jim Woodford at the Dayton Art Institute for one of the Bob Ross after hours jazz concerts. This performance included Bill Burns on bari-sax, Chris Berg on bass, Jim Leslie on drums, Brian Cashwell on keyboards with some vocals from Felitia LaRock. Other duties called so we were unable to stick around for the full concert but the band really got the crowd fired up and vocals from Felitia LaRock seemed to really please those in attendance. This band also has what I would call an educational recording out entitled Jazz Advice, includes every single one of these musicians billed as The Bright Moments Quintet, and even contains a sing along section – geez, a sing along section! Also learned of a recording entitled Bill Burns, Live in Centerville – picked up a copy and have been listening and enjoying it ever since. Great musicians and always crowd pleasers, they did not disappoint! Here allow me to include a coincidental point of interest – I do not remember when was the last time I heard the Nat King Cole song, LOVE, sung live, maybe never - but Falitia and the boys performed the song at DAI (more on the coincidence later).

One of my favorite vocalists is April Aloisio from the Cincinnati area. It always seems that her performance schedule and my availability are not compatible. My twin daughters love to hear her sing also. As fate would have it, Sarah and Jim got to travel to the Cincy area on 10-13-18 to hear April Aloisio sing in Greenhills at Foster’s @ the Troubadour. 
She usually sings in small intimate venues and this was no different – not too many places I go where the performer stops her show and comes over to give me and my daughter a hug. It had been quite some time and it was quite some treat. 
To make the evening even better she sang two of my favorite songs, Centerpiece and That’s All. If you listen to my radio show you know I sometimes end my show with Phil Burkhead on keyboards and April singing the tune “That’s All” from their recording “Daydream.” It was a very enjoyable evening.

I do not usually include much about what was missed but due to a previously planned 10 day sojourn into the Carolinas for various family activities – highly enjoyable I might add – there was a lot of Dayton area jazz opportunities that were missed. In no particular order, it was highly disappointing to miss the progressive tribute to a big band drumming legend, John Von Ohlen – drummer for the Blue Wisp Big Band for the past 4 decades (at least) and former drummer for The Stan Kenton Big Band. My inside contact told me that the tribute went “just fine.”

There was also a performance by all University of Dayton jazz bands while I was on the road. I have mentioned these bands before, they are under excellent direction – Jim Leslie being one of those directors/instructors – and it is always disappointing when I cannot get down to hear what they have to say. I have since learned that one of my favorite alto sax players [and I do not use “favorite” and “alto sax” in the same sentence very often], Ron Jones, played with the UD Jazz Bands, so a double whammy for me.

One I did catch was the final Levitt Pavilion performance for 2018, The Dayton Funk All Stars. My daughter and fellow Jazz Advocate Board Member, Sarah, accompanied me to this show. It was probably the biggest crowd I saw at the pavilion all summer and the paper reported 3,000 in attendance. Whew! What a way to end the Summer. Some members of the band have been around since the inception of the band so many decades ago and at least one member had an Ohio Players connection. [here I will interject that Jazz Central had its own Ohio Players connection for many, many years in the drumming of Greg Wood who is now in a state of semi-retirement] I did recognize one trumpet player who I have seen at Jazz Central as well, saw him at the so called Dayton Jazz Festival earlier this Summer as well but I have to apologize for not knowing his name. I will have that the next time he gets mentioned in this blog.

And now back to my coincidence story mentioned earlier – the Jazz Central jazz jam on Sunday nights is always interesting and a highly affordable place to hear jazz and enjoy jazz with other jazz lovers. It was at one of these jazz jams that I heard a new vocalist sing three songs, one of which was, LOVE, of Nat King Cole fame - ALSO sung at the Dayton Art Institute a couple weeks before – never heard the song live and have now heard it live TWICE within a matter of weeks. This leads me to end by saying what I say on my weekly WDPS radio show on 89.5 FM:

Jazz can inspire

permeate throughout

validate feelings

and give your mind a workout

So from now to the next time

to you I implore

there is jazz music out there

Get out and explore!

p.s. my Wednesday radio show has been moved up an hour from 1:00 p.m. and now broadcasts at Noon on Wednesdays – and if you are stuck at home on a Saturday night you can tune in on your computer at 7:00 p.m. to wdpsfm.com

New Jazz Venue

Oh yeah, I also promised you a new jazz venue in the Dayton area. That would be Tend & Flourish at 1906 Brown Street down near UD (and Jimmy’s Ladder Eleven). Currently the live jazz is once a month – next gig on 12-1-18 but check out their website – this is a Jason Swann gig for all you Jason Swann lovers.

local regular jazz happenings

The Jazz Central Jazz Jam is still going strong every Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. (until around 11:30) and Ismail Muhammad is bringing in occasional jazz combos on Thursday nights.

Jim Smith, jazz guitar player/teacher/master and Vinnie Marshal on bass are at the Tipp City restaurant called the Coldwater Café. Both excellent musicians and all musicians know that a paying gig is a very good thing. They do this every Friday and Saturday night from 7:00-9:30

Other venues for which you need to be aware:

Dave Greer and the Classic Jazz Stompers at Jimmy’s Ladder 11 on the first Tuesday of the month [7:00-10:00]

Jazz at Spinoza’s out by the mall at Fairfield Commons – check out the web site for times

Washington Platform in cincy, jazz combos on Friday and Saturday nights.

The Blue Wisp Big Band has switched from the Urban Artifact in cincy to Café Vivace, still every Wednesday night

The Dayton Jazz Orchestra at The Phone Booth Lounge (formerly Dog’s Breath Tavern) in Kettering every third Sunday of the Month beginning at 7:00 p.m.