Jubilee…Yes, It Was a Jubilee!

Labor Day weekend brought us to Sacramento for the Hot Jazz Jubilee and its 10th annual event. It was fantastic and with four separate venues during the day and extra sessions in the lounge from 6:00 pm to 10:00 pm, there were a lot of opportunities to see your favorite bands and performers. I also have to mention that the Hot Jazz Jubilee organization has a tremendous staff of dozens of volunteers to make this event well-run and very worthwhile. There are several raffles and other opportunities to support the Sacramento Jazz Education Foundation (SacJEF) which is a major partner/sponsor of the Jubilee.

Thursday night is an impromptu jam session with the musicians that were able to arrive that afternoon. It is a wonderful start to the weekend and a chance to see musicians that don’t usually perform together. First up was Danny Coots (dr), Steve Pikal (bs), Clint Baker (cnt), Jason Wanner (p) and Dan Barrett (tb). Then Shelley Denny took over bass duties with Dave Bennett (cl), Justin Au (tp) and Meloney Collins (v). Meloney sang a few Ellington tunes including “Just Squeeze Me” and her rendition was flawless.

Steve Pikal (bs), Ron Jones (dr) and Todd Morgan on one of his many instruments had the next set. Brian Holland (p), Danny Coots (dr), Steve Pikal (bs), Clint Baker (cnt) and Dave Bennett (cl) teamed up for the following set and Stephanie Trick and Paolo Alderighi as always amazed everyone with their 4-handed stride piano feats. The last segment of this session featured Todd Morgan (p), Dave Bennett (cl), Ron Jones (dr) and Shelley Denny (bs). What a marvelous beginning to the weekend!!!

Friday’s late start at 12:30 gave us a chance to have breakfast and get ready for the afternoon. Danny Coots and Groovus with Steve Pikal (bs) and Brian Holland (p) added Adrian Cunningham (reeds) and Meloney Collins (v) to a first set. Adrian is also a contributor to The Syncopated Times and it was the first time we met. A native Australian who now lives in Barcelona, I was happy to finally have a chance to see him perform.

The Dave Bennett Quartet included Pete Siers (dr), Mike Karloff (p) and Alex Aldera-Leite (bs gtr). In addition to the usual 4 notes on the bass guitar (E-A-D-G), Alex had a low B as the first string and a high C as the sixth string – a six string bass guitar! Dave also channeled Jerry Lee Lewis on a special set complete with playing the piano standing atop the soon-to-be kicked-away piano bench. I have always had a special place for “The Killer” as he was the first live performance I saw in Chicago around 1968 or so, and I was hooked!

The Crescent Katz are a throwback to the Shakey’s Pizza Parlor days and a delight. Greg Sabin (bj), Justin Au (tp), Brandon Au (tb), Priscilla Ornelas (tuba), Parker Weis (cl) and Patrick Skiffington (wash) had special guest, Clint Baker (cl, cnt), join them on this set. Clint is a multi-instrumentalist and a well-appreciated California musician in constant demand. He is the Director for the SacJEF Teagarden Jazz Camp and it is always a pleasure to see him perform.

Katie Cavera & The Lost Boys features Clint (cnt) as the non-verbal “arranger” of the group with Lauryn Gould (a first time festival attendee from Austin, TX and a more than fantastic reed player), Sam Rocha (bs), Crystal Holloway (dr, wash), guest vocalist Ali Affleck from Scotland and on piano will have Jason Wanner or Carl Sonny Leyland on different sets. Ali and Katie (bj, gtr, bs, v) recently completed a tour in Scotland with the Traveling Janes (and a few Johns) and Ali was able to come to the United States with Katie for this event.

Sax Gordon (tenor), Meloney Collins (v), Bill Dendle (bj), Jason Wanner (p), Adrian Cunningham (reeds), Dan Barrett (tb, cnt), Ron Jones (dr), and Shelley Denny (bs) had an early evening set that really rocked the house. With an impromptu duet between Sax Gordon and Adrian Cunningham on tenors, it was an incredible scene to witness; they were trying to outdo each other while going back and forth with riffs and flicks! I couldn’t understand how they could be smiling, laughing and blowing at the same time, clearly having as much fun as possible.

The evening sets at the Cabaret at RJ’s are intimate and with adult beverages and bar bites, a great end to the day and a great beginning to the night! Meloney Collins (v) belted out several standards with Jason Wanner (p), Shelley Denny (bs) and Ron Jones (dr) followed by Todd Morgan (p) with both Ron Jones and Shelley Denny staying on for his set.

Saturday starts at 9:30 am and again we saw Katie Cavera & The Lost Boys on this set with Carl Sonny Leyland on the piano. Meloney Collins and Ali Affleck paired off with a Queens of Swing tribute to past divas of song including Cleo Laine who recently passed away. Ali sang her arrangement of “Lady Be Good.” All three vocalists made a comment on the influence these female singers had on their own careers.

The Carl Sonny Leyland Trio with well-known bassist Marty Eggers and Gareth Price (dr) expand on the boogie-woogie style with an emphasis on the blues and rockabilly genres.

Black Market Trust has Tucson’s own Nick Coventry (v) with Brian Netzley (bs), Brandon Laws (dr) and both Matt Politano and Jeff Radaich on piano. Yve Evans and Company includes Yve (v, p) with Richard Taylor (bs gtr) and Larry Washington (dr). Yve does a Gospel Set on Sunday mornings which is always well attended. The special Boogie Woogie Set had five of the piano players at the ready for some fast paced tunes.

The Crescent Katz pay tribute to the Firehouse 5 + 2 on several sets complete with siren, bells and whistles. The Firehouse 5 + 2 band was created in the ’50s when several Walt Disney animators and designers would get together to play serious versions of popular songs in a not-so-serious way. As a former Shakey’s enthusiast, I get an extreme kick out of their talented antics and thoroughly enjoy their performances. The Firehouse 5 + 2 traveled all over the world and were a popular band of that era. Once again, a friend brought over Harper Goff’s banjo (an original Firehouse member) for Greg to strum with reverence.

Groovus had another set with Adrian Cunningham (reeds), Sax Gordon (tenor) and Dan Barrett (tb, cnt). The dynamic sax duo wanted to repeat their previous set with the dueling saxes and so they did…again!

Parker Weis (cl) and the Weis Guys are a group of young musicians that grew up in the Sacramento area and were part of their gifted youth groups. Felicia Weatherly directs the Syncopating Sea Monkeys of River City and Trombonist Bob Williams directs The New Traditionalists (TNT—their tag line is BOOM). Two of the outstanding young musicians included Lachlan Keightly (tb, bj) and Yash Saini (reeds) from both Youth Bands. We saw Mia Garcia (bs) with Katie Cavera on one set and vocalist Madison Kate on another. These particular two young women and two young men are on the road to professional careers in music and are so encouraged by their participation in these superior Sacramento Youth Bands. Tower Bridge Trad is another youth group with Director Gabe Carpenter. Both Lachlan and Yash are also a part of this group too!

The Brass Nickels had vocalist Jan Sutherland with them on most sets. This California-based group is very entertaining and focus on the musical talents of New Orleans’ finest (Armstrong, Morton) and the West Coast and Sacramento valley jazz icons (Murphy, Watters) Jan also had a set with the Syncopating Sea Monkeys and had a joyous expression in several numbers with their female vocalist clearly enjoying her role as “mentor.”

Katie Cavera has another group, San Lyon, specializing in 20th century Parisian Gypsy Swing mixed with American Jazz standards.

Paige Hershcell performs with a variety of instruments including a “kazunnel” which is a metal kazoo attached with a short pipe to a metal kitchen funnel—it is a unique sound! Since I play both kazoo and spoons, it could be my third instrument! Jenna Colombet (bs, v, dr) and Dani Vargas (gtr, v) complete this extremely talented quartet.

Meloney Collins had a late evening set with some interesting facts about the Lorenz Hart lyrics for “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.” When Ella Fitzgerald recorded the Rodgers & Hart Songbook in 1956 for the Verve label, the censors would not allow some of the original lyrics from the musical Pal Joey. Some of the changes were:

#1 revised:..I couldn’t sleep and wouldn’t sleep when love came and told me I shouldn’t sleep

original:… I couldn’t sleep and wouldn’t sleep until I can sleep where I shouldn’t sleep

#2 revised:…and long for the day when I’ll cling to him

original…and worship the trousers that cling to him…

#3 revised:…harsh until he’s speaking, he’s at his very best

original:..horizontally speaking he’s at his very best…

You’ll have to sing the song to yourself to see how these original lyrics fit it, but they were literally quite tame in comparison to some of today’s song titles with questionable phrases and words.

Steve Lucky & the Rhumba Bums captivated their audiences with their intense energy and have performed at festivals all over the world from San Francisco to Greece to Switzerland! Summer Groove (formerly High Street) rocks the stage with Motown fun and Groovus added Andy Reiss (gtr), Jeremy Wakefield (steel gtr) and Aaron Till (v,fiddle) to complete Swingin’ West known for their Traditional-Jazz-meets-Western-Swing approach. Not quite Hee-Haw but be prepared to don your hats, boots and spurs!

Multi-instrumentalist Todd Morgan also leads the Emblems in rounds of Pop, Rock, Soul, Blues, Funk, Country, Jazz & Swing! He does a mean Chuck Berry with all the vocals and dance steps. How much talent can be on one stage, you ask!!

Tom Rigney and Flambeau specializes in blazing Cajun two-steps, funky piano and blues. Tom’s violin playing is high energy showmanship and his audience has come to expect a lively performance. Two Tone Steiny and the Cadillacs offer old-fashioned blues complete with harmonica. A true dance band, the Cadillacs excel in Chicago-style blues and West Coast Swing – who can sit still with them on stage!?

The Grand Finale on Monday afternoon brings all the musicians on stage if they haven’t already headed back to their homes. A lot of heartfelt smiles, shared hugs and “see you next year” shout-outs were heard on both the stage and in the audience. Our group of ten thoroughly enjoyed the entire weekend and next year we hope to encourage more of our “musical” friends to join us in a wonderful end of summer celebration!