How does a tiny, unknown country town such as Three Rivers, California, end up sponsoring an annual world-class Jazz Festival that would last 50 years? It’s an epic story and a musical odyssey. Jazz music, born in New Orleans, took an Irish twist and found an enduring legacy in the Southern Sierra Nevada.
“If my cousin, Terri, hadn’t taken that trip to Ireland, there would never have been Jazz in Three Rivers, nor would there ever have been a Jazzaffair,” said Gaynor McKee. Her husband, Earl McKee, was a founding member of the host band known then as the Jazzberry Jam Band, which evolved into the world-renowned High Sierra Jazz Band. Gaynor and Earl were involved in the local music culture their entire lives and were an integral part of the jazz odyssey from the very beginning. It all began when Three Rivers local Terri Sullivan took a trip to Ireland and met Lueder Ohlwein, who was performing in an Irish pub….she fell in love.
Driven by his constant search for a traditional New Orleans sound, the German-born Lueder frequented all the jazz haunts of Europe before landing in Dublin in 1962. There, he was instrumental in the formation of the Dublin Jazz Society. When he and his new wife Terri arrived in Three Rivers in 1969, he was an experienced band leader, and his jazz repertoire included an extensive song list. He realized that a jazz club was vital to a community if the
