2018 Chicago Jazz Festival

2018 Chicago Jazz Festival -- Story and photos by Greg Turner

Kurt Eling

There were 2 major changes to this year’s Chicago Jazz Festival. The festival started one week earlier than usual because of festival sponsored concerts in neighborhoods throughout the city. Another was that the main stage Pritkzer Pavillion performances at Millennium Park started and ended one hour earlier, to encourage festival goers to visit Chicago’s many jazz clubs. With many different sounds and styles that come up under the word “jazz” these days, including large groups of musicians staring at sheet music, I looked to the elders appearing on the main stage to give me what I needed.

Jeff "Tain" Watts

Jeff "Tain" Watts

Vocalist Kurt  Elling, 50, returned to his hometown to collaborate with a group of Chicago musicians, and added 2 special guests, trumpeter Marquis Hill, also a returning Chicago native, and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts, 58, to close out Thursday evening. Featuring mostly music from Elling’s latest “The Questions” the group raised the bar for the rest of the fest, with Tain driving them with his joyous, powerful drumming.

Louis Hayes

Dezron Douglas

Dianne Reeves

Still spry and swinging at 80, drummer Louis Hayes and his quintet performed music from his Horace Sliver tribute, with the band members being the same as on the 2017 Blue Note CD. Laying the foundation with Hayes was the young bassist Dezron Douglas, whose smile suggested he was the happiest man in the city. Someone who probably wasn’t happy would be vocalist Dianne Reeves, 61, whose Friday finale was drowned out by torrential rains after only one song, but one could tell it was going to be memorable…

Kenny Barron

Mike Rodriguez

Also appearing on the festival main stage with the same group as on his recent Blue Note CD was pianist Kenny Barron. At 75 years of age Barron has been long been regarded as one of the best players and leaders in this music, and it was certainly evident in his quintet’s Saturday night performance. I really enjoyed the slower-than-usual arrangement of Dizzy Gillespie’s “Bebop” and the unified sound of trumpeter Mike Rodriguez and saxophonist Dayna Stephens. In what he has said will be his last public performance, pianist Ramsey Lewis, 83, closed Saturday evening, delighting the huge crowd with renditions of his “hits” such as “The In Crowd” and Sun Goddess”.

Charles McPhersion

Sunday’s festival highlight for me was the music from alto saxophonist Charles McPherson, 79, and pianist Barry Harris, 88. Working with veteran Chicago players, bassist Larry Gray and drummer George Fludas, the quartet overcame a shaky start to fall into a nice straight ahead groove, including 2 Monk pieces. The festival closed with an appearance by alto saxophonist Maceo Parker and his band, and the less said about it the better. Guess the festival programmers wanted something the people could dance to concluding the festival…

And that’s my report of this year’s Chicago Jazz Festival . Even though I can’t get around to see as much as I used to, I always have a great time and I look forward to returning again next year.

Greg Turner 

Jazz happenings – August 2018 edition by Jim Woodford

Jazz in and around Dayton, Ohio

The Levitt Pavilion and More!

Gary Onady on trumpet & World Renowned cellist, Karen Patterson at Jazz Central - August 31, 2018

Yellow Cab Tavern on First Sunday of the Month – the food truck revolution continues. If you follow news and happenings around the Dayton area then you know that food trucks are in the news. My most recent experience with food trucks was on the first Sunday of July, 2018 at the Yellow Cab Tavern. My fellow Jazz Advocate Board Member (and daughter) talked me into going down to hear Jason Swan and the jazz trio that plays there at this time each month (with Trey Stone on piano and Ben Cooper on bass). My daughter brought her daughter who is my sometimes partner on my weekly radio show on WDPS 89.5 FM (at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesdays). We enjoyed the jazz and the food. I was surprised to find a food truck from one of my favorite restaurants, El Meson, and I will make special mention of the Ghost Light Coffee food truck operated by Shane Anderson, a former Jazz Advocate Board Member.
 Now back to the jazz combo – the real reason I went in the first place. The combo did an excellent version of Emily – Bill Evans would have been proud. Jason presented a heartfelt version of “Do Nothing ‘Till You Hear From Me” and I am pretty sure I heard some Ben Webster influence in there. There was also a sax/bass duo on the Harold Arlen tune, Sunny Side of the Street, eventually rejoined by the piano player (and just to show how kid friendly it was, he brought his son with him). The trio also played a happy birthday request for someone in the audience whose name will not be mentioned. All-in-all, good time and I can recommend you get on down and check it out. 

Thursday 8-9-18 found my wife and I at the Dayton Art Institute’s Jazz and Beyond (could just as appropriately be called Jazz after Work) series to listen to some Beatle Jazz. Thankfully my wife talked me into this because I discovered that the musicians were all top shelf players; Phil DeGreg on piano, Kim Pensyl on trumpet and flugelhorn, Aaron Jacobs on bass and John Taylor on drums. You would have to go a long way to put together four better musicians. The quartet played a very pretty version of And I Love Her with what might be called a clavinet flavor from the keyboards. One tune that really got the crowd fired up was their interpretation of Eleanor Rigby which also included a very creative drum piece. Introduced as “One of the prettiest songs the Beatles wrote.” was the jazz waltz treatment of Here, There & Everywhere. Kim Pensyl’s flugelhorn fit the song perfectly. Another song that was a real crowd pleaser was their rendition of Day Tripper played in 7:4 time (with the warning, not recommended for dancers). While only having time to stay for the first set, rumor has it that a Beatles Jazz recording is in the works for the quartet. Stay tuned.

I mentioned one of my daughters earlier, part of the reason my wife and I could only stay for one set at DAI was that her sister (twin sister actually) was driving in from the Carolinas. We had just enough time to do a brief stopover for the premier event at the brand new Levitt Pavilion in downtown Dayton at Fifth & Jefferson, catch a couple tunes and then head home. Crowd reaction was very positive when Gina Chavez and her group introduced an original song about immigrants everywhere just trying to find a place to live and later as we drove past the venue on the way home they were singing “We are Family” originally made popular by The Pointer Sisters. My wife commented that it was a very beautiful evening of the Dayton community coming together. As you might expect, food trucks were there as well. 

I am going to mention the Sunday Night Jazz Jam at Jazz Central again because a tenor sax player showed up to jam that really livened things up. I regret that I did not write down the name of this musician but King Koeller and this sax player really fired up the band and the crowd. If I may borrow a rock n’ roll analogy from my youth, it was like hearing two sax players trade solos on Shake Rattle and Roll! The jazz jam at Jazz Central is never the same two Sundays in a row and while always interesting, sometimes they blow the roof off – this was one of those nights. If you care to check it out, it is every Sunday from 8:00 to 11:30ish.

Upcoming Jazz Event:
 Dr. Gary Onady (Eddie Brookshire Quintet and Eddie Brookshire Big Band) on trumpet with Master Cellist Karen Patterson and vocalist Kelli Campbell appearing at Jazz Central on August 31, 2018 from 8:00-11:30.

Here are some 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.
 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 [7:00-10:00]
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.
 Jason Swann on saxophone, Trey Stone on piano and Ben Cooper on bass have been playing at The Paragon on Friday nights and should continue to do so through August beginning at 6:30p.m..

Jazz happenings – July 2018 edition by Jim Woodford

Birthday Anniversary for Jazz Central – 44 years of jazz!
Sunday July 8, 2018, come on down & join the party:

      Jazz happenings in the Dayton area (and beyond) has recently included The Dayton Jazz Festival (held at Riverfest on 6-10-18) and the Miami Valley Jazz Camp (held at Kettering high school again this year). But first let me mention the Jazz Festival after party at Jazz Central. Once again we had a plethora of jazz jammers. I am not going to do a rundown of participants, of which there were 18 at one point but I will mention that jazz guitarist Mike Fageros was there – down from Toledo after flying in from Houston Texas, Mike Teckenbrock – playing trumpet this night rather than his usual flugelhorn and a former Jazz Central regular, Larry Smith – who has switched from alto sax to tenor sax. It had been at least a year since Larry had graced the stage. I always say that you never know what you are going to get at the Jazz Central Jazz Jam on Sunday nights but it is always interesting. One final comment, Mike Fageros has what I call the surprise recording of the decade - set for release in July (2018) – Lincoln Berry on the B3 Organ in a live performance in Texas! I cannot tell you how excited I am about this recording – Lincoln was a B3 jazz music icon in the Dayton area for close to 40 years but he just never got that much laid down on recordings. I have a pre-CD release copy which I have been playing on my radio show – the excitement builds!

    This past month I traveled down to Washington Platform in Cincinnati, a place I do not get to as often as I would like. I heard the Jim Connerly Trio with John Zappa on trumpet, Bill Jackson on bass & Jason Smart on drums. Jim was playing electronic keyboard. Over the years I have particularly enjoyed Jim Connerly’s playing – first heard him at the former Pachia’s Jazz Room in the Oregon District. Unfortunately for jazz lovers, not much jazz going on in the Oregon District these days. I caught the first set and the Platform’s usual great chowder. Zappa really showed his chops on Freddie Hubbard’s Straight Life. The drummer’s rhythms helped make this song particularly interesting. Overall though, the combo clicked on all cylinders for a killer version of Joe Henderson’s Mamacita! [Joe Henderson, a.k.a. Saxophone Joe, is generally referred to as being from the Dayton area but in fact he was from Lima]

      The Miami Valley Jazz Camp provided its usual amount of public entertainment, the camp counselor’s performance at midweek on Wednesday and the camps final camp attendee’s performance on Friday. The camp counselor performance this year was introduced by two student big bands, Cordonnier and Bradley – they got the crowed going. The headliners this year were a camp counselor version of The Dayton Jazz Orchestra, camp sponsors this year. I do not intend to provide a blow by blow account of all 7 tunes but trumpeter Scott Belck kicked things off with I’m Getting Sentimental Over You, reaching some high notes that only dogs could hear. Hal Melia played Ellington’s Jeep Blues (1956 Newport Jazz Festival) and Closing out the set was special guest Rob Parton along with Scott Belck once again with a rousing rendition of Maynard & Waynard. [Maynard Ferfuson and Wayne Bergeron] Honestly, you could pay any amount of money to see a big jazz act such as Wynton Marsalis and not hear anything better than that final trumpet duet. [full disclosure, I HAVE paid to see Wynton Marsalis-TWICE]      The Friday “end of camp” concert is always fun too. I could not attend the 12:30 performances but was able to catch the big band portion that took place at 7:00 p.m. Friday evening – fighting the Fraze Pavilion parking overflow was a challenge but managed to get inside before the first big band combo completed their set. (although I missed the drum set event) Bands that played were New Lumber under the direction of Sammy K & Jim Leslie, Honey I Shrunk the big Band! directed by Bill Burns, The Second Line & Dwayne directed by Ryan Hamilton, DocScott & the Lone Big Bone directed by Dr. Scott Belck and Bradley directed by Eric Lechliter. The highlight of the camp is always the all band camp performance, including instructors, as the final song of the evening – this year it was Perdido – I did a quick count and ended up with about 60 students plus counselors. I am pretty sure that the final note raised the rafters!

      Can’t do this write up without a mention of Ron Gable’s birthday celebration at the Minton Athletic Club.  Mr. Jazz Advocate writes a travel log and has extensive internet presence so I don’t really need to recreate the wheel. Suffice it to say that “King” Koeller was the M.C. – playing electric bass instead of tenor sax. Jason Swann swung his tenor sax with Ayn on vocals, Jeff on keyboards & Todd on drums. Mike Teckenbrock showed up to help Ron celebrate his birthday and brought his golden flugelhorn. Hal Harris and his son also helped celebrate, Hal on trombone and Steve on drums. Jan Og dropped by to lay down some tasty brush licks on drums as well. And there were lots of dancers. Those folks at the Minton Athletic Club seem to love to dance. The Dean of Dayton radio, Clay “the Cooker” Collins was also in attendance accompanied by his talented wife, “Lady D” who sang a song for Ron. A good time was had by all, but especially Ron Gable.

      I was also fortunate enough to have the time to get over to Spinoza’s at the Mall at Fairfield Commons to catch Brian Cashwell on piano, Chris Berg on bass and John Taylor on drums. These guys are amazing every time I hear them. They play so well together and that is because they make the musical communication look effortless. If you weren’t there, you missed quite a treat.
Then last but not least, finally got over to The Paragon, for what might have been the last performance at that venue of the musical combo consisting of Jason Swann on saxophone, Trey Stone on piano and Ben Cooper on bass. It was a lovely evening of drinks and dinner and the combo was crowd pleasing. [however; don’t expect to sit at the bar and get anything to eat – my recommendation is eat at 6:00, then sit at the bar and enjoy the combo up close and personal – p.s. my granddaughter had a Shirley Temple just in case you were wondering]. The combo is hopeful that a change in entertainment management still allows them to continue playing every Friday night through July and August beginning at 6:30.

      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.      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 [7:00-10:00] - 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. - 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.

Counting my blessing - giving my thanks to all!

Ron Gable

What is a "Jazz Jam?"

      Over the years, many have asked me, “Just what is a Jazz Jam? “ Without getting technical, the easy answer is; a venue like Jazz Central, who has been doing Sunday Night Jams for close to fifty years, hires a core group to perform and then lets anyone who shows up to sit in with the group. Sometimes they have to take turns, which is handled by the Jam leader. Many times it’s just another evening of good inexpensive entertainment but there are times, when depending upon who shows up, it’s magic and some of the best jazz anywhere.

     Having talked Grant Koeller into doing a gig on my birthday and since he has been leading the Jazz Jams at Jazz Central (2932 E. 3rd. St. in Dayton) in recent years, I asked him if we could open my event and invite other jazz musicians and vocalist form our area to sit in. That would give them a chance to see what the Milton is like as a performance venue. It is my hope that some of my Jazz musicians (and vocalist) friends might have the desire to join us.

Latest jazz happenings - June, 2018 edition by Jim Woodford

A Rare jazz musical performance on June 2nd 2018 (and more)

      Grammy nominated Frank Proto will be playing bass with Tim Berens on guitar at a fund raiser at Hope Lutheran Church in just a few days, Saturday June 2nd. I could tell you about the rare performance myself but let me just use an email message I received:

      Good news:  This Saturday, at 7:00 PM, bassist Frank Proto and I will be playing a concert at Hope Lutheran Church in Dayton.  The concert is free and open to the public.

      Frank is a Grammy Award nominee and a world-renowned composer of music for symphony orchestras.  We have been playing together for many years now and have created a rich repertoire that blends jazz and classical music in a unique way.  This concert will be entirely acoustic, with Frank playing acoustic bass and me playing classical guitar.

       We will be performing works by Frank Proto, Gabriel Faure, Neal Hefti, Manuel de Falla, and several jazz composers.  I promise a night of aural delights.

      The address of the church is:

Hope Lutheran Dayton,

500 Hickory St,

Dayton, Ohio 45410,

(937) 228-5191

http://www.hopelutherandayton.org/

      The music starts at 7:00.  The concert will last about 90 minutes. I hope to see you there.

      In the words of Dayton native (and former Jazz Central host, vocalist and trumpet player) John Hampton Wagner, “Be there or be square!” [for the inquiring minds needing to know, John and his wife Rexanne now live in Florida – and for the really curious who like to dig deeper, my wife and I had dinner with them when we were down that way in the Spring]

      I previously mentioned a date at Jazz Central by The Eddie Brookshire Big Band and I am happy to say that I was able to attend the first set of that performance. Eddie has been at Jazz Central in many capacities over the years at Jazz Central, most recently as the bass player for the Archie McPherson combo gig set up by drummer Ismail Mohammad. The Big Band came ready to play. They played a rousing rendition of Dizzy Gillespie’s Manteca and even threw in a second line groove tune – N’awlins style – of Little Liza Jane! The piano player was featured on My Romance and as a trombone lover, I particularly enjoyed the tune Bonehead. The tune that really caught my ear was a latin style tune entitle Valdez in the Country. Trombonist transformed into vocalist, Brenda Flowers gave more latin flavor to It Don’t Mean a Thing and Ryan Wells continued to entertain the crowd on tenor sax and trumpet player Rodderick Wilson even got in on the act. There was some scatting going on in there as well. The set ended on what I would call an upbeat high note with Perdido – Gary Onady provided a memorable trumpet solo and Fenton Sparks put on the exclamation point with his drum solo. Hope you didn’t miss it, it was a good one. Thanks to long time Jazz Jammer (and congas player that night) Cliff Darrett for setting up that big band performance!!!

       While I mention the Jazz Central Jazz Jams fairly frequently, I do not write about them all that much – clearly you can come down to Jazz Central any Sunday night at 8:00 and hear the music for yourself but recently I heard one that deserves mention. First of all, there is an annual Hamvention held in the Dayton area and this year it was in Xenia – a trumpet player from Baltimore makes a point to come down to Jazz Central on the weekend of the Hamvention. In turn, I make a point to be there so I do not miss his playing. His picture is included – Gary from Baltimore -  he comes from a blues background but keeps getting up to speed on jazz – always enjoy his playing. And this year we had a packed stage as well, 2 tenor saxes, 2 trumpets and 2 trombones – a picture of that lineup is included here as well. All-in-all it was an even more energetic night than usual! And I gotta tell ya, Rodderick Wilson is never afraid of going in search of that mystical high note on the trumpet! Come on down and see if he finds it!?

      Last but not least for live jazz, at least for what I have managed to attend recently, the Chris Berg Trio played at the Milton Club, with Mike Teckenbrock on flugelhorn, Brian Cashwell on piano and featuring Patricia Berg on vocals. I could talk about every single song they played but two in particular that were crowd favorites were A Day in the Life of a Fool (requested by Jazz Advocate’s own Ron Gable) and Stolen Moments. Patricia Berg gave A Day in the Life of a Fool a very special crowd pleasing flavor and Mike Teckenbrock’s flugelhorn solos in Stolen Moments was well worth the price of admission. I have said it before, Mike may be the best flugelhorn player in Columbus, Cincinnati and Dayton area and that encompasses a lot of flugelhorn players. One veteran jazz musician sitting in the audience referred to Mike’s playing as being quite tasty. I couldn’t agree more. It is my understanding that the combo will be back – keep your eyes and ears posted for upcoming dates.

      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 – my understanding is that Chris Berg, John Taylor and Brian Cashwell may be playing their last gig there on June 25th – mark your calendar. 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. Jason Swann and musical compadres at The Paragon – every Friday night in June, July & August.

      Two additional upcoming events:

Dayton Jazz Festival at Riverscape on Sunday June 10th at 1:00 p.m. and the annual Miami Valley Jazz Band Camp is June 11th thru the 15th and the Wednesday night jazz instructor performance as well as the week ending jazz camp performance are both worth catching. See you there!

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.

The Dayton area jazz scene – March 2018 edition by Jim Woodford

More on the jazz scene in the general Dayton area seems to be in order. I recently heard from Jim Smith, jazz guitar player/teacher/master who has had probably the longest steady paying gig in recent memory at the Tipp City restaurant called the Coldwater Café. This gig is with bass player Vinnie Marshall whom I refer to as Vinnie on the skinny since he has the hard body, thin bass that sits on a tripod. They are starting their third year. Congratulations! 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 (hmmmm, is Tipp City actually in Dayton?) Hats off to Jim and Vinnie!

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. I was reminded this week that Jason Swann plays in a jazz combo at the Paragon on some weekends and he has a combo downtown at Hannah’s (across from the Schuster) every Thursday night. The Paragon schedule is as follows:

3-18-18 [6:00-9:00]

3-24-18 [6:30-9:30]

4-6/13/20/27-18 [7:00-10:00]

I am primarily motivated to compose this current edition about the jazz scene in the Dayton area because recently I traveled to Cincinnati (OK, is Cincinnati the Dayton area or is Dayton the Cincinnati area? They are close enough together that travel is convenient in both directions) to the Greenwich jazz club where the B.J. Jansen Common Ground combo was performing, B.J. Jansen on bari-sax, Steve Turre on trombone, Eddie Brookshire on bass, Art Gore on drums, Duane Eubanks on trumpet & Marcus Persiani on piano. B.J. is from the area and was coming home to promote his Downbeat 2017 album of the year entitled Common Ground. It was quite a night of music (and food, B.J. has a classmate that owns a catering business and both times I have been there to hear him the food has been excellent).

B.J. Jansen and Eddie Brookshire on left -- Steve Turre and Art Gore on right

The combo assembled for the hometown performance was different than the combo that made the recording. Most of you know that is not all that unusual. Performers come into town and often use local musicians; in this case, you couldn’t have done much better than Eddie Brookshire (Dayton) and Art Gore (Cincinnati). B.J. usually hits the stage fashionably late and then plays a couple of hours straight through with no breaks. This night was no different. We heard cuts from the album, Stacey’s Place, Street Walk [as B.J. was quick to point out, street walk, not walker] and Angela’s Aggravation [which turned out that Angela was his sister and B.J. was the aggravation] and his tribute to Wilburt Longmire – long time cincy jazz guitar player who passed away in January 2017 – Bucket Full of Soul. Solos by NYC piano player Marcus Persiani were excellent, as were solos by Eddie Brookshire and Art Gore. The combo interacted and communicated quite well together. At one point there was some excellent trio work between B.J., Eddie and Art. B.J. kept the combo mixing it up! In fact, solos were good all the way round. While Delfeayo Marsalis is the trombone player on the album, Steve Turre filled in for him this night. And the final song of the night was the Mile Davis tune, All Blues, played on conch shells, yeah you heard me right, conch shells; five of them if I counted correctly. The shells were all different sizes and he hit every note as he switched around on those conch shells. It was quite an unexpected end to a great jazz music evening.

The combo assembled for the hometown performance was different than the combo that made the recording. Most of you know that is not all that unusual. Performers come into town and often use local musicians; in this case, you couldn’t have done much better than Eddie Brookshire (Dayton) and Art Gore (Cincinnati). B.J. usually hits the stage fashionably late and then plays a couple of hours straight through with no breaks. This night was no different. We heard cuts from the album, Stacey’s Place, Street Walk [as B.J. was quick to point out, street walk, not walker] and Angela’s Aggravation [which turned out that Angela was his sister and B.J. was the aggravation] and his tribute to Wilburt Longmire – long time cincy jazz guitar player who passed away in January 2017 – Bucket Full of Soul. Solos by NYC piano player Marcus Persiani were excellent, as were solos by Eddie Brookshire and Art Gore. The combo interacted and communicated quite well together. At one point there was some excellent trio work between B.J., Eddie and Art. B.J. kept the combo mixing it up! In fact, solos were good all the way round. While Delfeayo Marsalis is the trombone player on the album, Steve Turre filled in for him this night. And the final song of the night was the Mile Davis tune, All Blues, played on conch shells, yeah you heard me right, conch shells; five of them if I counted correctly. The shells were all different sizes and he hit every note as he switched around on those conch shells. It was quite an unexpected end to a great jazz music evening. 

One more addition, a word from Ron Gable (Jazz Advocate Emeritus), who tells me how pleased he is to have found a new music venue. The Milton Club at 640 Cosler Drive off Burkhardt in Dayton, a private club with a beautiful ballroom dance floor and outstanding kitchen, offers the following open to the public events:

     Every Monday the Kettering Banjo Society holds practice sessions from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

     On the first Thursday of each month the Speakeasy Jazz Band plays traditional New Orleans (Dixieland) from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

     On the third Thursday of each month the Generations Big Band plays the best of Count Basie, Stan Kenton, as well as hits of Frank Sinatra, Natalie Cole, Diane Schuur and Michael Buble with some pop and rock covers for good measure from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

     On the fifth Thursday of each month the OLDKOOL Rock and Roll Band plays your favorites from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s from 7:00 to 9:00 pm.

Note: There is a $5 cover charge for the Thursday Band Events for the public.
(Free admission for Milton Club Members)

Jazz Scene 2017/2018 by Jim Woodford

      Many of you know that after 4 decades, the downtown Dayton jazz & blues iconic club, Gilly’s closed its doors on 12-31-17. This follows the heavyhearted news of the passing of the founder of Gilly’s, Jerry Gillotti. Very sad news for music fans in the Dayton area and beyond. Jerry, you will be missed. But as I lament Jerry’s passing I also have to point out that many spirits were lifted with the standing-room-only tribute to Jerry on 12-27-18 with all the musicians and all the music fans that showed up for Jerry’s Last Jam! They play the funeral dirge going to the graveyard in New Orleans but they play joyful, uplifting music on the way back. They do this for a reason obviously, life goes on and we celebrate that good things from a life well lived. Thank you Jerry for all that you did for the music scene in Dayton!

      With the joyful march back in the New Orleans funeral procession in mind I am going to take this opportunity to point out that the Dayton area is lucky enough to have other music venues that will hopefully help take away the pain of the closing of Gilly’s. Followers of the music scene in the Dayton area know that there is an ebb and flow of these music venues. A few years ago, Cincinnati musicians were commenting about how vibrant the jazz scene was in Dayton and now maybe that mantle has moved back down south but you can still hear jazz in the Dayton area. Bands play certain venues for a period of time and then those situations come to an end. The Generations Big Band was playing Friday nights at the Mandalay for quite a while as well as Jazz Central one Thursday a month. Both of those situations have changed and now it looks like The Generations Big Band will be playing at least once a month at the Milton Club in Dayton. Followers of the Jazz Central Big Band over the past 4 decades know that this band ebbs and flows as well. Early on it was made up of a bunch of hot young players who blew the roof off at Jazz Central but many of those players moved on to other opportunities, some out of the state entirely. The most recent iteration of the Jazz Central Big Band was managed by Linda Landis, trombone player of Columbus Jazz Orchestra fame but it was recently announced that they will be on indefinite hiatus. The Dayton Jazz Orchestra has also had their time at Jazz Central but most recently they are holding court at the Dog’s Breath Tavern in Kettering [just a few blocks from the Wilmington Pike/Whipp Road intersection] every third Tuesday of the month.

      I have mentioned Jazz Central a number of times thus far and there is a reason for that. Jazz Central has the longest running jazz jam in the Dayton area. I can tell you personally that there has been a Sunday night jazz jam there since I started attending in 2001. The thing about a jazz jam is that it is always different, it is always interesting and you never know what you are going to get and sometimes it is way beyond your expectations. I felt this way recently. Sunday night, 1-7-18 saw some of the same jazz jammers that show up most Sunday nights. I have been there when the stage is full of musicians playing just about every type of jazz instrument you can think of. But I have also been there when there was a core set of jazz jammers and while you may not get the wild and sometimes exciting swings that you get with a variety of jammers, when you have 5 or 6, they can get into a groove that is memorable. This was one of those nights, Kenny Baccus on Hammond organ, King Koeller on tenor sax, Ron Appleberry on bass, Craig Saunders on drums and Jeff Slinker on jazz guitar. You can see these fellows most Sunday nights at Jazz Central. There was a special guest this night, Berkeley College in Boston student Craig Jackson. Regular Jazz Central attendees pretty much saw Craig grow up on this stage right before their eyes and this night he came back to show us what else he has learned.

And what a night it was. Here are some of the songs that were played:

Softly As in a Morning Sunrise

Lullaby of Birdland

Blue Train

Corcovado

Tenor Madness

Impressions

Scotch and Soda (this following a crowd request for some Zoot Sims)

Don’t Get Around Much Anymore

Take 5 (this after a crowd request for some Paul Desmond)

Let it Snow

All Blues

Autumn Leaves (another crowd request)

Chameleon

      King Koeller and Craig Jackson tore it up on Blue Train. I only regret that I was not recording. And when tenor sax player Craig Jackson switched to drums, he was challenged by the crowd request for Paul Desmond when they picked Take 5. It went surprisingly well even with the different time signatures. All-in-all, a very good night. If you weren’t there then you missed it. Jazz is alive and well in Dayton, Ohio. I do want to give a special shout out to Berkely & Avril and Leslie & Roger, DIE HARD jazz fans!

      Two final notes, Jason Swann emceed and played at least two Thursday night jazz jams at Jazz Central for most of 2017, and while he still jazz jams on Sunday nights, his talent has been drawn to Hannah’s in downtown Dayton on Thursday nights. Have been there myself, things are going quite well. Last and most certainly not least, there was a performance extraordinaire at Jazz Central on Thursday 12-28-17 which I missed because I was out of town. But because people cannot stop talking about it, making me feel even worse that I was out of town, I want to at least mention the players, Ismail Mohammad on drums, Mike Fageros on jazz guitar, Mark Smarelli on vibes and the dean of Dayton jazz bass guitar, Eddie Brookshire on bass. I have paid money to see Mike, Mark and Eddie at individual gigs and they were all on the same stage at once! Apparently if you weren’t there you really did miss one. The good news is that Ismail Mohammad is now organizing Thursday night jazz performances at Jazz Central so come on down. See you around the jazz scene. 

Jerry's Last Jam

Dateline Wednesday December 27, 2017:
          Jerry's Last Jam at Gilly's

     Saxophone player extraordinaire, Hal Melia, was the host for Jerry Gillotti's last jam at Gilly's in honor of Jerry Gillotti. The club will close on December 31st this year.

     The first band to take the stage was Eddie Brookshire's Big Band. They were raucously received by the capacity crowd in attendance and Cliff Darrett on latin percussion and congas with Fenton Sparks on drums enhanced a rousing rendition of Dizzy Gillespie's  Manteca! These percussionists also had some help from Ismail Muhammad.
     The second tribute of the night was from the quartet of Randy Villars on piano, Hal Melia on tenor sax, Fenton Sparks on drums and Eddie Brookshire on bass. Also well received, the crowd heard some excellent solos as these veteran musicians demonstrated their ability to interact and musically communicate to the crowd's delight!

      Master of Ceremonies Hal Melia kept things moving along by bringing up on stage the first jam group of the evening. This group included vocalist Sandra Rutledge, Randy Villars on piano, Bill Dixon on trumpet, King Koeller on tenor sax, Vince Gillotti on tenor sax, Eddie Brookshire on bass , Hal Melia on flute and [ ? ] Mallott on drums. This jazz jam group really seemed to fire up the crowd even more.

     Next up was Dave Greer and his Classic Jazz Stompers; a Dayton area mainstay for several decades, this group always gives the impression that they play Dixieland jazz but jazz lovers quickly realize that there is a jazz musicianship that smoothly moves right into bop and provides a musical mixture that results in pure delight to listeners. As 89.5 FM WDPS radio show host often says, "There may be other bands out there somewhere that are just as good as the Jazz Stompers but there are none better!" This was the one band at the Jerry Gillotti tribute that does play a regular gig on the second Tuesday of the month at Jimmy's Ladder Eleven down on Brown Street.

     The second jazz jam group was brought to the stage next and included Gary Onady on trumpet, Jim Smith on guitar, Mike Koogan on trombone, Lee McKinney on drums, Hal Melia on tenor sax and various other sundry players (apologies to those not mentioned). It is worth noting that this group contained two trombones. Do not see that much around the Dayton area unless you are hearing a big band. This group kept the crowd pretty enthusiastic as well.

     Arguably the most fun group of the night was The Random Flashbacks Band led by Generations Big Band trombone player, Dustin Malone. You can learn more about this band on their Facebook page. They have a lot of fun on stage!

      The next band took quite a while to set up but this is a good time to point out that there was also a DJ set up at the club that played music at the appropriate times and who knew Jerry Gillotti well and played music that Jerry liked. Once the band was set up the crowd learned it was The Floyd Witherspoon Band with Touch! Touch as played Gillys in February for the past 25 years. This band was tough to beat for Gillys longevity. Many of you reading this are familiar with Touch as they have been around Dayton for a very long time. For those of you NOT familiar with Touch, they are four band members that do an excellent job of recreating the Motown sound, in particular the Temptations and the Four Tops. They brought the house down. Even though tables and chairs had been set up on the dance floor to accommodate the expected standing-room-only crowd, dancers were not deterred during this performance. You can find videos of this group on the internet by doing a search for "motown sound of touch web" - if you like Motown, you need to find them on the web.

      Jerry's brother Tom was brought to the stage to tell some club stories, of which he had too many to talk about them all, but he did talk about Richard Pryor coming to the club and delivering about a half hour performance because he liked the band he heard so well. Another story this reporter heard from trumpet player Gary Onady was that the year Wynton Marsalis won awards in both the classical and jazz genre, he actually heard Wynton, Branford and the Marsalis family matriarch Ellis at Gilly's for 6 bucks! Unfortunately (and disappointingly),  this reporter was unable to stay for the final jazz jam group of the evening, but there were two female vocalists, Dayton area jazz musician regulars Jason Swann on tenor sax (who also backed up Touch) and Grant "King" Koeller on tenor sax. Two jazz musicians who returned to the area were also in the band - unfortunately, facial recognition did not also result in remembering names. The trombone player attended Central State and actually once played an Australian instrument, the diggory do,  at Jazz Central and the bass player, first name Ian it seems, is now earning a living playing bass in New York City. Hats off to them for returning to the area to pay tribute to long time jazz and blues club owner Jerry Gillotti. The group also include various other jazz musicians (again, apologies to those not specifically mentioned in print). It was a night to remember.

Article by Jim Woodford

Photos by Sarah Woodford



Comment by Ron Gable on Jan. 1, 2018:

     My most memorable event at Gilly’s was the 2005 jazz advocate hurricane Katrina benefit concert; where Jerry Gillotti furnished the venue and many local jazz musicians furnished the entertainment. The Dayton Pizza Factory, Cold Beer & Cheeseburgers and others furnished food. The evening had a true New Orleans Jazz flavor provided by Dave Greer’s Classic Jazz Stompers from Dayton and Don Vappie of the Creole Jazz Serenaders from New Orleans who happened to be in town when Katrina hit. Gilly’s closing marks the end of an era for me and many other local music fans so now is the time to be thankful for Jerry’s gift of many memories of good times at Gilly’s.