San Jacinto Stompers • A Thousand Goodnights

In these days of diminishing audiences and venues, it takes a brave soul to start a traditional jazz band, not alone keep an existing band viable. Banjo player Kevin Scott is just such an individual who has done both. For a good number of years he has led the successful Golden Eagle Jazz Band and has recently formed another band—the one heard here, the San Jacinto Stompers. “San Jacinto,” by design will put one in mind of the San Jacinto Hall on Dumaine Street in New Orleans where there was considerable “stomping” in the old days. The San Jacinto Hall, which was opened in 1922, had a decent run until it was destroyed in a fire in 1957. During these decades of the 1920s through the 1950s, it was the site of many dances and social gatherings which featured bands that played the ensemble style of New Orleans jazz featured on this CD. Among those who played at the San Jacinto Hall were Bunk Johnson, George Lewis, and Peter Bocage, to mention just a few. This association of the San Jacinto Hall with the polyphonic New Orleans musical style made it a logical choice for Scott in naming his new band, thus the San Jacinto Stompers. Readers of The Syncopated Times may not recognize most of the names of the Stompers personnel, but all of them have figured quite prominently in the British traditional jazz scene. Trombonist Brian Butler has played with Kevin Scott’s other band, the G