It’s Too Darn Hot!

It may be hot outside but it is more than “cool” at our local jazz club, The Century Room in downtown’s Hotel Congress! The Mysterious Babies’ lead Guy Senese (cnt/sax) just returned from a trip to Turkey and related a story about the “town square’ in Ankara. He came across a Turkish bagpiper and with his trusty soprano sax by his side, Guy and the bagpiper went into a traditional “Canal Street Blues” in the middle of the square! What an experience that must have been for both of them! The evening we were there had Ron Hinkle (bj), Marco Rosano (bass sax/p), Sly Slipetsky (p/tuba), Chris Constantine (dr) and Kevin Ravelette (reeds) rounding out the Babies’ ensemble.

Young trombonist Zayden Morgan was preparing to attend his first semester of a four year course at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, so we may not see him again until any summer breaks or holiday visits. I have heard him several times and expect he will be an outstanding student excelling in his chosen craft.

Washboard enthusiast Marj Scooros was in the audience and had her ax with her. She sat in on a few numbers and we all enjoyed the additional percussion. We had some other friends with us and everyone savored the evening after a prior dinner at the Hotel’s restaurant across the street. The three music venues and several dining spots within the Hotel grounds create a wonderful complex for an evening’s entertainment with something for everyone’s taste.

The following week we were back at the Century Room to hear trumpeter James Williams again (see my August column in TST). This was to celebrate Louis Armstrong’s actual birthday of August 4th. The Satchmo Summer Fest was held in New Orleans this weekend too but we had our own mini-fest right here in Tucson.

As previously mentioned in my August column, James is from Tucson and has been living in New Orleans for about 10+ years. He was here visiting his mom and we expect to see him several more times and then again in the fall when he returns to New Orleans.

This performance found James leading the group on Monday nights, with a full 17 piece band consisting of students, alumni and professors from the Tucson Jazz Institute’s award-winning Ellington High School Jazz Band. With four trumpets, four trombones, five saxes, piano, guitar, bass and drums the tunes were culled from Armstrongs’ affiliations with Duke Ellington and some of his both well-known and more obscure arrangements. The Century Room’s Artistic Director, Arthur Vint (dr) was recently in New York and visited the Armstrong museum/center and obtained copies of some of the original charts.

These are outstanding musicians and it is a treasure to find such talent in our community. In addition to James and Arthur, the following completed the band: Max Goldschmid, Anthony Gibes, Tony Belletti, Jibrael Alsooz, trumpets; Mark Nelson, Joshua Schanie, Ben Constantinides, Aiden Schofield, trombones; Kevin Ravelette, Simeon Roth, Tim Buechler, Joseph Rader, Brian Hicks, reeds; Chris Pena, piano; Matt Mitchell, guitar; and Scott Black, bass.

Max Goldschmid is a multi-instrumentalist and had with him a soprano trombone—James referred to it as a “slide trumpet” which is what it sounded like! A small instrument, it looked more like a toy trombone and is quite a rarity, not typically used in any concert or band settings.

We have another good month of desert heat with the cooling monsoon rains before the ideal weather arrives. I think we’ll spend a few more evenings at the Century Room before visiting Prescott in two weeks for the Jazz Summit and our first time at Sacramento’s Hot Jazz Jubilee over Labor Day. Looking forward to it all!