Like the Central Pennsylvania Ragtime and American Music Festival that I reported on last month, Jeff and Joel's House Party is a small event in Connecticut and is intentionally going to remain so. It was set up to take the place of the defunct Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival, and more recently, the Hot Steamed Jazz Festival in Essex, CT, which ended in 2014.
JJHP is the creation of pianist and entertainer extraordinaire Jeff Barnhart, and Joel Schiavone, who was involved in the trad jazz scene for many years as a banjoist and, more importantly, the founder of the Your Father’s Mustache franchise, which provided a venue for trad musicians to ply their trade at a time when there were few places. Joel now lives in Connecticut, as has Jeff for his entire life.
The House Party was born in 2011 at Joel’s home, but it soon outgrew that venue and moved to the VFW Lodge in Guilford, where it remained until this year. The reason for the move to the Elks Lodge in Branford, the next town to the west, was that the VFW had closed for remodeling. I was never at the VFW so I can’t compare the two locations, but I found the Elks quite satisfactory for the event's needs. It has room for about 100 seats, a dance floor, and table seating for an equal number for the meals that are provided. There is also ample parking. I did not notice if the facility is fully handicapped-accessib
