Jim Fitzgerald was happiest when he was on the bandstand playing for an appreciative audience. Speaking of that special connection between musician and listener, he once said, “One of the best things about performing in a jazz band is playing for appreciative, knowledgeable people.
“When the set starts, your eyes are scanning the crowd, fliting back and forth, looking for that expression among members of the audience that says, ‘We’re connecting.’ When my eyes find that expression, that smile, that mutual unspoken feeling of being on the same wave length, it’s magic.”
Jim Fitzgerald, who passed away just a year ago this month, one day short of his 86th birthday, spent over 60 years doing what he loved: playing music. His Sorta/Kinda Dixieland Jazz Band was one of the most popular draws during the heyday of classic jazz festivals, playing as many as 10 annually between 1993 and 2005. The group also had the distinction of being the longest-running lounge act in Las Vegas.
Every weekday afternoon for 18 years, the band took the stage at the East Lounge o
