join the mailing list! add | remove

Friday September 5th, 2003

Baldwin anchors Orange County Classic Jazz Festival

Attracting more than 10,000 fans, the Fourth Annual Orange County Classic Jazz Festival was an international event featuring 19 bands from the U.S., France, Australia and Russia, and six Baldwin pianos including three SD10 Concert Grands, a Model L1 Artist Grand, a Model R1 Artist Grand a Model 243 vertical piano were part of the festival atmosphere. The jazz bands ranged from small ensembles of four to eight pieces, to a giant 20-piece banjo band that shook the lobby of Hyatt Regency Orange County Hotel in Garden Grove, Calif. where the four-day event took place.

Encompassing a variety of styles, each band played classic jazz in a highly individual way. Most groups offered a different set of tunes at every venue and surprisingly, very few numbers were repeated. The Siberian Jazz Band, although they spoke no English, articulated their New Orleans-style set to include Louis Armstrong's hallowed "West End Blues," featuring a trumpet lead with Sergey Gershenovich. The Bob Crosby Bob Cats also headlined the stellar roster, sustaining the original Crosby sounds that kept Dixieland Jazz alive during the Big Band era. Werner Lutz's stunning trumpet solo on "Five Point Blues" recalled Yank Lawson's contribution to the Crosby book. Their set concluded appropriately with "South Rampart Street Parade."

Hot Antic, France's most authentic jazz band for decades, added a charming touch of Gallicism that elevated the jazz experience. Led by Dr. Michael Bastide, a noted eye surgeon, their eclectic program included numbers most bands overlooked, including some by their favorite, Jabbo Smith.

The tuxedo-clad New Wolverine Jazz Orchestra from Australia accurately recreated several historical recordings of the '20s, emphasizing the legacy of Bix Beiderbecke. In celebration of his centennial year, they played "Fidgety Feet," Beiderbecke's first recording, and featured their fine pianist, Peter Locke, on Bix's lovely piano solo "In a Mist."

American bands included Bob Schultz's Frisco Jazz Band, an acclaimed group of West Coast Jazz veterans; the popular Buck Creek Jazz Band from Washington, D.C.; Bob Finch's Chicago Six; the Golden Eagle Jazz Band; and the High Sierra Jazz Band from Three Rivers, Calif. who played their fourth consecutive appearance at the event. They drew large crowds at their eight appearances over the weekend, playing Django Reinhardt's sensual "Nuages" featuring leader Pieter Meijers on soprano sax, and the band's version of Jelly Roll Morton's exhilarating "Kansas City Stomp."

Together for 30 years, the New Reformation Band led by pianist-humorist Dave Oppermann justified their nationwide popularity with danceable sets and attentive crowds. During their four performances, the San Fernando Valley Banjo Band created a joyous crowd-pleasing program. The enduring South Frisco Jazz Band crisply executed the early King Oliver two-cornet format that inspired Lu Watters in 1949. Leon Oakley and Dan Comins, a fiery cornet team, remembered Watters with his arrangements of "Down Home Rag" and "Emperor Norton's Hunch."

Defying categorization, the Titan Hot Seven played Dixieland, ragtime, and swing, with ebullient pianist Jeff Barnhart at the helm.

The glittering centerpiece of this year's festival was a tribute to the late Rosy McHargue by Dan Levinson's Eleven Sons of Rosy. The depicted the extensive facets of jazzman Rosy McHargue's genius during a pair of sessions featuring players influenced by him.

In additional to the performances, other activities included a twin piano concert with Jeff Barnhart and Ed Metz Sr. A "Classic Singalong" was led by Mary Accord and accompanied by Bruce Huddleston and Robbie Rhodes at the twin pianos, as well as banjoists Vince Saunders and Stan Huddleston. A sort of "Battle of the Bands" took place with Hot Antic sparring with South Frisco, and Titan Hot 7 with the Siberian Jazz Band. A "Grand Parasol Parade" was flanked by the High Society Jazz Band and the Night Blooming Jazzmen.