No gloomy thoughts of the music's mortality diminish the passion of the true-believing fans who turn out for the house party.
Reports of the death of traditional jazz have been greatly exaggerated -- at least, that’s the incontrovertible evidence presented right here in Connecticut when you examine the robust life-signs of the increasingly popular trad jazz bash called Jeff and Joel’s Jazz House Party.
A lively mix of high-energy music, moveable feast, and communal celebration, the house party will be rollicking and rolling from October 10 to 12 at the VFW Hall at 104 Mill Road in Guilford. The music is served in a jubilant ambience recalling the jamming, legendary house parties of the 1920s and ’30s, where mythic jazz giants like Fats Waller and James P. Johnson entertained party-goers.
Vintage jazz -- timeless music created in and celebrating the present moment -- will abound in a variety of early All-American genres. Marking its fifth festive gathering of the partying faithful, Jeff and Joel’s Jazz House Party lets the good times roll as its various sized combos, playing on arrangements invented on the spot, launch into everything from ragtime and New Orleans music to Dixieland and Swing Era styles, riding blue notes and ballads with invocations of iconic figures ranging from Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstrong to Fats Waller and Benny Goodman.
About 15 of the region’s top trad jazz players, including the renowned Vince Giordano, mix and match in various configurations in freewheeling sessions. The action flows in a warm, home-like setting aglow with a sense of camaraderie among the devout listeners and the skilled practitioners.
Trad jazz fests in Connecticut and across the country have died in recent years. The fan base, with notable exceptions, inevitably seems older and grayer, much as it does for jazz in general, classical music, and the shrinking demographics for such imperiled cultural artifacts as newspapers, books, and CDs.
No gloomy thoughts of the music’s mortality diminish the passion of the true-believing fans who turn out for the house party, a creation of Jeff Barnhart, the noted trad pianist/singer from Mystic, and Joel Schiavone, a well-known developer and flamboyant, banjo-playing vocalist/entertainer from Guilford. Barnhart runs a Connecticut-based record company, and tours throughout the world playing piano and singing in the grand manner of his hero, Fats Waller. Schiavone is a 2005 inductee into the National Four-String Banjo Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The party opens on Friday, October 10, with the first of the weekend's four sessions.
Barnhart and Schiavone decided to go small for the chosen venue. Abandoning the mammoth tent notion for trad jazz festivals, they adapted the ancient house party approach. Presenting jazz in a convivial living room setting is an alternative tactic that Barnhart noticed on his continental tours. It’s a smaller, cozier concept, he said, successfully adopted elsewhere in the States.
Beginning in February, 2012, the first of four Jeff and Joel’s Jazz House Party ventures was launched to great success in Schiavone’s 1804 farmhouse in Guilford, the site for the next three parties. Instead of sitting in a cavernous concert hall or giant tent, patrons are right on top of the music, savoring the foot-stomping sounds while having brunch, lunch, or dinner, or drinking a beverage while connecting one-on-one with the musicians.
With success came excess in the turnouts, increasingly so large and enthusiastic that the house party has outgrown Schiavone’s historic home. With its spirit intact, the house party has been relocated to the VFW Hall in Guilford. As described in a house party press release, the swinging shindig “has moved just down the street to the new pond side venue, which, though small and charming, offers more room for dancing, seating, parking, eating at tables or al fresco dining outside the hall or by the pond. The intimate setting remains the same.”
The party opens on Friday, October 10, with the first of the weekend’s four sessions, a program billed as a Friday Night Special from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. It features vocalist Molly Ryan and reed player Dan Levinson accompanied by Barnhart on piano, drummer Bill Reynoldsand the bassist/orchestra leader Vince Giordano. A multi-talented instrumentalist and singer, maestro Giordano and his highflying Nighthawks Orchestra won a Grammy for their exceptional playing on HBO’s award-winning “Boardwalk Empire,” where they could be heard and sometimes seen performing classic vintage music.
Among the highlights of the sessions on Saturday, October 11, and on Sunday, October 12, are performances by such outstanding veterans as Noel Kaletsky, a clarinet and saxophone wizard; Fred Vigorito, the great cornetist and leader of Connecticut’s electrifying Galvanized Jazz Band; and Genevieve Rose, a gifted, young bassist from Massachusetts. Barnhart, who handpicked the all-star array, not only sits-in on piano, but is also the organizer of the mixing and matching of the bands in various lineups, an element that’s bound to bring variety to styles and song selections.
In one of the already predetermined matchups, Kaletsky, who’s noted for his fiery clarinet solos, will be featured on Sunday, October 12, in a “triple reed” summit meeting with the young twin brothers, Pete and Will Anderson, who double on sax and clarinet.
Among other seasoned veterans in Barnhart’s brigade are: Bob Ferguson and Lew Green, trumpet; Herb Roselle and Herb Gardner, trombone, with Gardner doubling on piano; Tom Palinko, drums; and the irrepressible Schiavone on banjo and vocals. Sessions on Saturday, October 11, from 11:00 am to 4:00 pm and 5:00 to 10:00 pm; Sunday, October 12, 11:00 am to 4:00 pm. Tickets: $225.00 for all the sessions on Saturday and Sunday; $80.00 per session; and $30.00 for the Friday Night Special. Information: jeffandjoelshouseparty.com. Reservations: (203) 208-1481.
Kaman Renews Library’s Jazz Card
Thanks to a generous three-year sponsorship by the Charles H. Kaman Charitable Foundation, the Hartford Public Library’s popular Baby Grand Jazz Series opens its 12th season on Sunday, January 4, at HPL’s atrium at its flagship quarters at 500 Main Street.
In 2014, the series of 16 free Sunday concerts broke its attendance records with a season high turnout of nearly 5,700. Building on the momentum from its good season in 2013, opening day for the 2014 series drew a record-breaking crowd of 600 to hear violin virtuoso Meg Okura and her Pan Asian Ensemble.
Before the series’ attendance numbers began skyrocketing just a few years ago, turnouts were routinely sparse for the one-hour shows at 3:00 pm. Now, in dramatic contrast, crowds of 500 or 600 are no surprise.
The Kaman Foundation funded the series in 2012, 2013, and 2014, years marked by sudden rapid growth in popularity. The foundation’s latest infusion gives the series a welcome three-year lease on life, saving it from having to drum-up support year by year.
Matt Poland, CEO of the HPL, thanked the Kaman Charitable Foundation for the assistance. “Without their steadfast support,” he said, “the quality of this series would not be possible. We’re thrilled to be able to continue to provide this free, one-of-a-kind concert series to the public, and continue our work promoting music appreciation and arts literacy for all.” The 2015 season will be announced later this fall. Information: hplct.org.
Scatz Serves Gourmet Vibes Feast
If you love vibes, you’re in for a special treat this weekend as Jay Hoggard, a swinging, soulful vibraphonist universally acclaimed for his expressiveness, invention, and intelligence, opens a three-night stint at 8:00 and 10:00 pm on Friday, September 26, at Scatz Restaurant and Jazz Lounge at 139 Main Street Extension in Middletown.
Downbeat time for Saturday, September 27, is also 8:00 and 10:00 pm, and on Sunday, September 28, at 4:00 and 6:00 pm. A globe-trotting performer with a distinguished discography, the Middletown-based artist performs with his quartet featuring pianist Warren Byrd, bassist Belden Bullock, and drummer Alvin Carter, Jr.
Besides leading his own groups, and recording and touring with a host of premier players, the virtuoso vibraphonist is also a respected educator who has been both teacher and mentor for hundreds of students. He’s an adjunct professor of music at his alma mater, Wesleyan University in Middletown, where for more than 20 years he has been the director of the Wesleyan Jazz Orchestra. Admission: $15.00 cover; $15.00 table minimum. Information: (860) 347-2289.
Protean Powerhouse Plugs In
Guitarist/composer Michael Gregory Jackson, a genre-leaping figure who emerged during the 1970s New York avant-garde loft scene, performs at 8:30 and 10:00 pm on Friday, September 26, at Firehouse 12 at 45 Crown Street in New Haven.
A protean artist, the 61-year-old New Haven native has, in his unfolding incarnations, been a powerhouse avant-garde jazz, blues and rock guitarist and singer/songwriter. He’s been associated with such diverse stylists as Patti LaBelle and Santana, and with such cutting-edge jazz figures as Oliver Lake and Wadada Leo Smith, an early mentor in the guitarist’s formative New Haven years.
Jackson presents his “Spirit-Signal-Strata,” featuring himself on guitar and electronics, Keith Witty on bass and electronics, and Kenwood Dennard on drums. Tickets: $20.00 first set; $15.00 second set. Information: firehouse12.com and (203) 785-0468.
Manhattan Transfer to Hartford
Hip harmony reigns as the venerable Manhattan Transfer, an all-embracing eclectic vocal quartet, performs at 7:30 pm on Sunday, September 28, at Hartford’s Infinity Music Hall and Bistro at 32 Front Street. Founder Tim Hauser’s dream of more than four decades ago of mining the unlimited possibilities of four-part harmonies has been more than fulfilled by the versatile group’s multiple Grammys and worldwide record sales in the millions. Tickets: $69.00-$89.00. Information: (860) 560-7757.
Bravura Brazilian Blender
Brazilian guitar virtuoso Diego Figueiredo, a master blender of jazz, bossa nova, and classical, opens the 2014-2015 season for The Connecticut Guitar Society at 8:00 pm on Saturday, September 27, at Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 814 Asylum Avenue in Hartford.
Figueiredo's intense, fluent solo performances recall the bravura artistry of the phenomenal Joe Pass. Tickets: $30.00 general; $25.00 CGS members. Information: ctguitar.org and 860-249-1132.
Casey’s New Grooves
Saxophonist Mike Casey leads his new quartet at 8:00 pm on Friday, September 26, at The 9th Note at 56 Orange Street in New Haven. Casey goes to bat with Matt Dwonszyk on bass, Corey Garcia on drums, and Matt DeChamplain on keys. Cover: $5.00. Information: (203) 691-9918.
Brighenti and Pals
Pianist John Brighenti continues his weekly “John Brighenti and Friends” series at 6:30 pm on Thursday, September 25, at Casa Mia On the Green, 600 Cold Spring Road in Rocky Hill. His pals are diva Dianne Mower and bassist Lou Bocciarelli. No cover. Information: (860) 563-7000.
Please submit press releases on upcoming jazz events at least two weeks before the publication date to omac28@gmail.com. Comments left below are also most welcome.
