From The 34th Arizona Classic Jazz Festival

The 34th Arizona Classic Jazz Festival, held as usual at the Crowne Plaza Golf Resort in downtown Chandler on November 2-5, was blessed with beautiful weather and even better music. It followed its standard format of four sets on opening night, all in one venue, and then 27 and 28 competing sets, respectively, on Friday and Saturday in four venues, all within the hotel. On Sunday there were 16 sets plus a grand finale. An optional dinner concert was offered that I also attended. The band roster was very similar to what was presented last year (which I did not attend) and in 2021, my first time here. One new band this year was Brass Nickel from California, whom I had not heard of. While they stuck to the trad jazz repertoire, there was nothing about them that stood out to me. I owed them a listen, but one set was enough. A perennial fixture at western festivals is Tom Rigney and Flambeau, a Zydeco band. I have opined previously that this is not my favorite genre, so after giving them an obligatory trial some years ago at the Olympia Jazz Festival, I have not seen them since. But I cannot discount their popularity. Now, to accentuate the positive, I’ll tell you what I did like, and it’s a substantial list (not necessarily in rank order): the Holland-Coots Jazz Quintet and its “subsidiary” Groovus, the St. Louis Stompers, Wildcat Jazz Band, Sun City Stomperz (yes, that’s how