Eureka! The Redwood Coast Music Festival

I’ve been attending jazz parties and festivals for twenty years, and each one has its own character. So to call one “the best” would be foolish. But the Redwood Coast Music Festival, held at the beginning of October in Eureka, California, is a musical banquet. No, make that several musical banquets all at once. I’ve been there in 2019, 2022, and 2023 (there was an interruption of service in there) and I’m ready for October 3-6, 2024.

Jazz purists (you know who you are) will look suspiciously at the word MUSIC in the title, and it is true that jazz is not the only dish served: the festival includes rockabilly, rhythm and blues, swing, blues, Americana, country, and zydeco. But no one will go away feeling deprived. And since there are still those misshapen folks who reflexively say, “I don’t listen to jazz,” characterizing it as “American roots music” gets more posteriors in chairs.

First, eight bars of history. The festival, then a “Dixieland Jazz” one, started in 1990 to help fund community senior programs. Six years later, Blues By The Bay was created and it ran with great success for years. The two festivals merged and reinvented themselves as the Redwood Coast Music Festival, with a wider range of roots music and a direct appeal to dancers: two qualities that remain true now. For those who like numbers, the RCMF runs for four days, has 7-8 events going at once for more than 100 sets total. The festival has deep ties to the community, offering free clinics by famous musicians in local schools.

If you fly to the festival, your first view of this beautiful landscape is the sweetly miniaturized airport at Arcata: two gates and one snack bar, often open. Eureka is a lovely town, festooned with brilliant murals. The RCMF makes use of venues all over town, from a cozy library to a huge hall or two. In my first year there, I complained about this (“How do you expect me to get from A to B?”) but a shuttle runs regularly and very congenial volunteers pick up people who, like me, no longer run anywhere. I made new friends last year because of this, and I now think it a benefit.

Executive Director Mark Jansen is a hands-on fellow, racing from site to site, even giving musicians a lift from place to place. He has a broad vision of energized impassioned music, and he listens closely to musicians, asking them who they would like to work with, what themes they would like to propose for sets. The musicians, even when they are exhausted, are grateful. And since he and his wife Val are dancers, they want music that encourages others to share the pleasure. Most of the rooms have wooden dance floors and you can see people of all ages responding enthusiastically, whatever their level of expertise. An aside: many festival-goers are no longer in their forties (I am being tactful here) so engaging a younger audience is crucial if readers would like to have festivals to go to in ten years.

Were I to write a detailed description of the uplifting music I heard and saw in three years, it would take up much of an issue. So I will simply list some highlights.

Drummer Josh Collazo playing Sidney Catlett’s “Steak Face” as the climax of Marc Caparone’s Back O’Town All Stars (Marc’s Louis Armstrong All-Stars tribute band) set;

Master blues guitarist Duke Robillard playing and singing Big Joe Turner’s “Wee Baby Blues” as a leisurely exercise in longing and gratification;

Trombone virtuoso Charlie Halloran and the Tropicales bringing us to the Caribbean islands in swing;

Hot cornet man Dave Kosmyna singing and playing “Ballin’ the Jack” with the verse and the appropriate gestures;

Valerie Kirchhoff and Ethan Leinwand, the delightful St. Louis duo swinging “Murder in the Moonlight” and “The Duck’s Yas Yas Yas,” their band including reedman Ryan Calloway and master-of-all-trades Clint Baker;

T.J. Muller’s Swing Seven levitating the Count Basie “Jive at Five” and Joe Robechaux’s “King Kong Stomp,” thanks to Jonathan Doyle and Jacob Zimmerman, reeds, Andy Schumm, cornet; Kris Tokarski, piano;

Hal Smith’s Mortonia Seven, On the Levee, New Orleans Night Owls, and Swing Central bands—each one with its own romping aesthetic focus (Jelly Roll; Kid Ory’s Fifties groups; orchestral ragtime; a small group honoring mystical clarinetists Pee Wee Russell and Lester Young);

Jonathan Doyle’s Swingtet playing “Jeep’s Blues” and “Dickie’s Dream” and his quirky memorable originals—each performance by this band a delightful marriage of limber arrangements and poised solo work, hot and delicate;

Carl Sonny Leyland rocking the stage with “Margie” and “My Gal Sal” and seismic boogie-woogie and blues of his own choosing;

A King Oliver tribute set, cornets TJ Muller and Dave Kosmyna, a hot-jazz storm of the best sort;

Dawn Lambeth singing “You Are My Lucky Star,” so tenderly;

Dave Stuckey leading the Hot House Gang and an hour-long Western Swing tribute, paying homage to Bob Wills, Cindy Walker, and others, with James Mason, Elana James, and Mikiya Matsuda;

Jessica King singing Alex Hill’s “Delta Bound,” softly and sweetly;

The Jonathan Doyle-Jacob Zimmerman tribute to Walter Donaldson, with lovely songs I had never heard before;

A set honoring Charlie Christian featuring the much-missed Little Charlie Baty;

The Holland-Coots Quintet featuring Jacob Zimmerman and / or Andy Schumm on reeds;

and no one can forget Twerk Thomson’s exploding bass violin, a five-star short film in itself.

Immodestly, I will say that I have brought my video-camera to the RCMF (and will do so this year) so the evidence is visible at www.jazzlives.wordpress.com or at “swingyoucats” on YouTube.

Since my aesthetic range is narrow and my legs are not getting any more limber, this is a very small slice of what is offered: the RCMF goes from ragtime (solo piano and orchestral) up to boogie-woogie, Forties small-band swing, blues and soul from everywhere, and all the possible variants, mixing and matching. When you see their Octobert 2024 advertisement in this issue or online, you might feel a happy vertigo at the mass of names.

So that this piece isn’t mired in nostalgia, let me end with some Coming Attractions for October 2024. West Georgia bluesman Jontavious Willis will be there, as will New York stars Jon-Erik Kellso, Matt Munisteri, and Dennis Lichtman. So will Alice Spencer, John S. Reynolds, Ray Skjelbred, Joel Paterson, and Casey MacGill. Visit www.rcmfest.org for the full listing. But (shhh!) here are a few sets to make you eager for October (all schedules subject to change):

“Jazz From The Hills,” traditional jazz performed by an all-star string band, led by Matt Munisteri and featuring Dave Stuckey, Joel Paterson, Mikiya Matsuda, Dennis Lichtman, Matt Weiner, Alex Hall;

“Miss Jubilee and the Yas Yas Boys,” performing the music of Clarence Williams’ Washboard Band, starring Valerie Kirchhoff, Ethan Leinwand, Hal Smith, Rodrigo Mantovani, Andy Schumm, TJ Muller, Dave Kosmyna;

Carl Sonny Leyland with Joel Paterson, Dave Stuckey, Jonathan Doyle, Dennis Lichtman, Matt Weiner and Alex Hall;

“John Reynolds’ Hollywood Hot Shots” with the return of the marvelous John Reynolds, also Marc Caparone, Jacob Zimmerman and Katie Cavera—one set with Dawn Lambeth and another set with Alice Spencer;

“Hot Swing Guitar Summit,” a session with Jonathan Stout, Matt Munisteri, Whit Smith, Josh Collazo, Steve Pikal;

“Overland Swing Express” with Alice Spencer, Hal Smith, Dave Bennett, Kris Tokarski, Clint Baker, Katie Cavera and Jonathan Stout;

TJ Muller’s Jazz-O-Maniacs,” mixing Eddie Condon with St. Louis stomp, featuring TJ Muller, Kris Tokarski, Jon-Erik Kellso, Dan Barrett, Clint Baker, Valerie Kirchhoff, Jonathan Doyle, Alex Hall;

The Doyle-Zimmerman Orchestra featuring original compositions with Jonathan Doyle, Jacob Zimmerman, Kris Tokarski, Jon-Erik Kellso, Katie Cavera, Andy Schumm, Nate Ketner, Josh Collazo, Dan Barrett and Matt Weiner;

“Casey MacGill and the Spirits of Rhythm,” with John Reynolds, David Jackson, Dave Kosmyna, Josh Collazo, Jonathan Doyle, Dan Barrett, Jacob Zimmerman;

Mikiya Matsuda’s “Alcatraz Islanders,” a Bay Area sensation;

TJ Muller’s “Swing Seven” featuring Valerie Kirchhoff, a band that had the dancers swinging in 2023;

And a hot-jazz finale to end all, for those who can’t easily get to New York City’s Mona’s or The Ear Inn, a 2 ½ hour traditional, improvisational jazz jam finale, led by Jon-Erik Kellso, Matt Munisteri and Dennis Lichtman. This set will feature the jazz heroes of the festival coming to perform as they are finishing their regular sets.

As Jack Teagarden sang in “Say It Simple,” “If that don’t get it, well, forget it right now.”

I’ll see you in October, and my only regret is that I don’t have a crack team of a dozen videographers to capture all the good sounds for eternity.