In my essay about the decline of jazz festivals (“What is to be Done?” March 2018) I wrote “None of the early legends of jazz thought anything of collaborating with comedians and jugglers. On the local level such partnerships are starting up again…I think the variety show medium is ripe for a comeback, and jazz bands will still fit in.” Now I’d like to introduce you to an artist who is making that happen. Drew Nugent, along with his band, the Midnight Society, has been reshaping the Philadelphia traditional music scene in his own Vaudevillian image.
Drew Nugent learned piano as a child, then added violin and cornet, as he—and his musical tastes—developed. “My first introduction to vintage music was really through Ragtime. I’d heard some local pianists playing tunes by Joplin, Tom Turpin, James Scott, Eubie Blake, and the like; it captivated me. That heavy syncopation, with rich colorful melodies and phrases; I never heard anything like it. Slowly but surely my interest became a full-on obsession, and I started following the evolution of Ragtime into Jazz.” He lists among his influences on piano: Jelly Roll Morton, Willie The Lion Smith, James P. Johnson, Frank Melrose, Lennie Hayton, Arthur Schutt, and Irving Brodsky, as well as, yes, Fred Astaire. His influences on the horn are a rundown of the greats—Louis, Bix, Red Nichols, Jabbo Smith, Jack Purvis, Phil
