Latest jazz happenings - April/May 2018 edition by Jim Woodford

Mo’ Money – Mo’ Money – Mo’ Money!

      OK, I admit I stole the money line from the Wayans Brothers and their ground breaking comedy sitcom In Living Color – it was catchier than Mo’ Jazz, Mo’ Jazz, Mo’ Jazz!! But jazz is still going strong in Dayton and southwest Ohio in general. And we just recently experienced International Jazz Day whereby Bill Burns directed a celebration at Cline Elementary in Centerville (part of the school system in which Bill teaches) and a two performance happening down at the Greenwich in Cincinnati where area native Jeff Hamilton came back into town to celebrate and help with a fundraiser for long time Blue Wisp Big Band drummer and Stan Kenton Orchestra legend John Von Ohlen. The event was sold out and yours truly waited too long to try to buy tickets and got shut out.

      Let me talk about the performances I did get to see, starting with Anat Cohen on clarinet, who brought her Tentet into the University of Dayton. She is an internationally renowned clarinetist. To say the least, it was an exciting evening of jazz music variety, ten musicians! The clarinet has slowly slipped into the background of jazz music as the soprano sax has gained a much more prominent role. Anat Cohen is doing her very best to bring back the clarinet. She has numerous recordings available out there if you care to sample her talent. I will also do a little name dropping as numerous jazz luminaries were spotted in the audience, Mike Teckenbrock, Jim Smith, Bill Burns & Willie Morris just to name a few.

I was also lucky enough to catch the final Sinclair Jazz Band performance of the school year under the direction of Bill Burns. Bill Burns has the Sinclair Jazz Band clicking on all cylinders and to make things even better for this performance he brought in guest trombonist Rick Simerly.

      Rick traditionally comes into town for the Miami Valley Jazz Camp held in June, as an instructor, and then also plays with the instructor band when they do their camp performance mid-week. I happen to own a Rick Simerly recording which is absolutely excellent and Rick blew everybody away this night with his amazing control and trombone playing ability. And speaking of the aforementioned Stan Kenton Orchestra, the play set included a Bill Holman tune written for trombonist Carl Fontana and a Hank Levy tune arranged for trombonist  Bill Watrous entitled Bread and Watrous. Pictured below is the musician lineup for the Norris Turney tune entitled Seventh Day, transcribed from a recording in Bill Burns’ collection (sorry folks, no YouTube video for this one – if you weren’t there then you missed it!). It was quite the evening of music.

           From left to right; Rick Simerly, Eddie Brookshire, Ken

      Taylor, Bill Burns, Adam Uhlenhake & Jeff Spurlock.

      Last but not least, the stars lined up and I was available at the last minute to travel to Yellow Springs recently to hear Lee McKinney, John Eshelman and Hal Melia at Emporium Wines. I had not been to Yellow Springs in a while and it brought back a lot of memories of when I was in graduate school – I digress – the trio performance was laudable and as I have said to just about anyone who will listen (and most recently on my radio show on WDPS at 89.5 FM on Wednesdays at 1:00) – Hal Melia may be the best musician in southwest Ohio and parts beyond. Boy can play! And he did not disappoint. He is also quite involved in the aforementioned Miami Valley Jazz Camp AND got to play with the Stan Kenton Orchestra. Oh the stories he can tell!

      There will be a special performance by Tim Berens on guitar and Frank Proto on bass at the Hope Lutheran Church on Hickory Street in downtown Dayton on Saturday June 2nd.    Mark your calendar – more details as available!

     Now some local jazz regular 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. Jason Swann is on hiatus in May but holding forth in a jazz combo at the Paragon on Fridays in June, July & August from 7:00-10:00.

      For the longest running gig in the Dayton area, 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 and as an added bonus, Coldwater has been named one of the best 10 restaurants in Dayton!

      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 [7:00-10:30]

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

Top of the Crown [a.k.a. View 162] has music at times peppered with jazz on the weekends

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

The Blue Wisp Big Band at Urban Artifact in cincy every Wednesday night

      If you read this article in time, you will be able to hear the Eddie Brookshire Big Band at Jazz Central on May 12th. Come on down and hear the Dean of Dayton Jazz Bass and his Big Band!

      And before it slips my mind, The Milt Goedde Trio with special guests Gary Onady on trumpet and Ryan Wells on saxophone will be appearing at Jazz Central on Friday, May 25th from 8:00-11:30.