Many years ago back in 2011, when I started coming to Mike Durham’s International Classic Jazz Party, the party felt like a bit of a secret. To the outside world, it was an odd conglomeration of jazz musicians, music fans over 60 years of age who really loved jazz, and me: then a 20-year-old university student who was frequently confused for a musician as one of the younger people in the room. All of this happened in the Village Hotel, which had just been built on an empty industrial estate. I had no idea back then when I walked into that room what a big part of my life this festival would go on to become.
Festival founder Mike Durham died in March 2013 after a short illness. Mike’s wife, Patti, didn’t hesitate to keep the Classic Jazz Party weekend going. Keith Nichols, Frans Sjöström, and Mike had already confirmed the musicians for that year’s Party and arranged the concert schedule. I was already on board looking after bits of admin. In recent years, we’ve also sadly lost Keith and Frans. Michael McQuaid took over as musical director and from 2025 we’re looking forward to the amazing Colin Hancock joining us as co-musical director. If Mike, Keith, and Frans were looking down upon us at the 2024 Party, they would have been delighted.
Why do I tell you all of this? The Classic Jazz Party has never been an event where we, as organizers, sit away from everyone. All of us are there, laughing, enjoying the music, and sharing a tear when we think about friends we have lost: notably Claus Jacobi. The whole affair feels like a giant family reunion. This year, it finally feels like the secret about this event is well and truly out. We sold out three months before the event—and then some. At one point there was a waiting list of 20 people, on top of jazz musicians who joined us to listen to the sets from France, the Netherlands, and Argentina. It is indeed the highest compliment for us as organizers that musicians would give up time they could be earning money to join in the fun.
While there is so much happiness in the Village Hotel, this year was notable for the absence of our former musical director, Claus Jacobi, who sadly died earlier this year. Claus’ fingerprints were all over the program. He and Michael McQuaid devised the whole schedule this year, and it was bitterly sad he never got to see it come to light. At the end of the event, Michael McQuaid related how Claus would always corner him in the bar, saying “Michael, we must get on.” Even in his last few weeks, Claus was sending out charts and writing music that was played this weekend. We were grateful that Claus’ wife Anke and children were able to join us to see his wonderful legacy brought to life.
And so to the event. The Classic Jazz Party is run unlike any other jazz festival. Instead of booking bands, a set of 32 musicians are hired, each of whom suggests the music that they would like to play. The result is an absolute feast of songs diligently transcribed from recordings. Everything from niche Boyd Senter kazoo trio songs, to a glorious hour of Roger Wolfe Kahn, Mamie Smith, Charlie Creath(!), and Benny Goodman, among others. I have lost track of the amount of times I’ve been overjoyed to hear my favorite recordings played live.
Friday began with the tribute to Mike Durham, and the Young Talent Award, which this year was presented to Gavin Rice. I have been friends with Gavin on Facebook for a few years now, and it was a real pleasure to meet him in person. Gavin brought with him a very special instrument: the actual banjo used by Bobby Gillette on the Wolverines’ recordings with Bix Beiderbecke. He sat in with the instrument on the “Centenary Celebration: Bix and the Wolverines” session on Saturday. It was remarkable to hold it and think it was there right at the beginning. On a personal level, I found Gavin great fun to hang around with, and he was a very worthy recipient of the award. The man is vintage personified—from his clothing, to his music, and interests in old cars, period photography, and much more. A bright future awaits him in the music world for sure.
The next set on Friday is always the 0-60mph moment, to use a driving analogy. It’s where the festival suddenly kicks up a notch into the really good stuff. This year, it was a whole hour celebrating the music of St Louis musicians Charlie Creath and Dewey Jackson. Andy Schumm and Torstein Kubban did an outstanding job of bringing the music to life. We were all Pleasure Mad by the end. That afternoon brought a welcome return to two foreign talents: Jon-Erik Kellso and Nicolle Rochelle, who played a set of Teddy Wilson and Billie Holiday songs. While Kellso’s trumpet playing is as fine as ever, Nicolle’s singing is an absolute stand-out for me. She sings Billie like Billie, she dances like Josephine Baker, and she just looks fantastic on stage.
After that, a little half-hour gem of a set dedicated to Gene Austin. New York’s Mike Davis, who has a fine singing voice, sang for the set. I really enjoy hearing him play trumpet (and trombone) but his singing style is distinctive and very well suited to the demands of the event.
Before dinner, we had two more incredible sets. First, “Modernism in Mayfair,” an hour-long exploration of the modernistic music recorded by the Piccadilly Revels, a hugely under-rated band recorded in London between 1926 and 1928. Nicholas D. Ball did the honors, spending a whole 24 hours per song writing out the most intricate and tricky charts to play. The band did a fine job, before Lorenzo Baldasso returned from Italy to play an hour of Benny Goodman’s NBC Thesaurus radio transcriptions, which really swung.
I wrote some very positive words about Lorenzo last year, and this opinion doesn’t change. A genuine talent, capable of leading a band like this very well, churning out excellent solos, and also being a lovely person to hang around with in the jam sessions. My knowledge of these recordings was sadly lacking, but one of the joys of the Classic Jazz Party is that I can now go away and listen to the originals after being introduced to them.
Friday evening began with a brief set by the great Morten Gunnar Larsen playing piano solos. To sit behind him and watch the master at work is always a treat, and it was well-worth rushing back from dinner to make sure I didn’t miss it. The day ended with three more sets, each one bringing a different highlight with it. Firstly, Torstein Kubban celebrated Clarence Williams’ Blue Five for a glorious hour, before party debutant Charlie Halloran brought a set of Kid Ory to the event. I had never heard Charlie play in person before, and his style really did blow me away. What a fantastic talent the man is. He also fitted in very well with the rest of the musicians, playing like he had been there for several years alongside the established regulars.
Finally, there was my highlight for the day: Michael McQuaid led a set dedicated to the great Roger Wolfe Kahn Orchestra. It was so well-arranged I could have listened to three hours of the stuff. I love hot jazz, and love a good solo, but there is equally a space for well-played dance music played by expert musicians like the ones found at the Classic Jazz Party. I just had to get up and dance, and if I had gone home at that point I would have left a happy man, but I had to pinch myself to think there were two more days of music of a similar standard.
Saturday began with a bang: a wonderful hour of the music of Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake, expertly led by Morten Gunnar Larsen and Spats Langham. It was a treat to hear some very old music hall songs which don’t really fit into the category of hot jazz, but are no less deserving of modern appreciation. From the sublime to the delightfully obscure, we enjoyed a whole hour dedicated to Boyd Senter—yes, the Boyd Senter. Novelty sound effects galore—and surprisingly difficult to play. David Horniblow was Senter reincarnated, and Josh Duffee did a great job exploring the story of Senter’s life as bandleader. The set ended with a song that Senter had written in his later years but was never recorded, so Josh wrote out a band song from the lead sheet. Again—where else but the Classic Jazz Party would you hear this?
Some more honorable mentions for Saturday afternoon: a salute to the music of Vic Meyers, and early Bennie Moten, plus a half hour with five (!) guitarists on stage. One audience member had travelled all the way from Chicago just to hear the Vic Meyers set, and she certainly left one happy lady. The guitar set saw such fantastic treats as “Rockin’ in Rhythm” as you’ve never heard it before, while Andrew Oliver’s Bennie Moten set brought Kansas City to Newcastle, with gems like the first recording of “South”—and not the Victor one that is much more familiar.
Saturday evening began with another debutant, pianist Ulf Johansson Werre, treating us to a selection of rag and swing numbers. I was especially surprised to hear his last number, a song which was written by Armando Anthony “Chick” Corea, but stylistically sounding like something written twenty years before he was born. Afterwards, the delightful Nicolle Rochelle reprised her role as Josephine Baker to sing in French for a brief but sparkling set. It was a treat to see her on stage again, really doing these roles justice. The music just kept on going after that: an exploration of “jass” in London from 1919 to 1923, which was wild and raucous thanks to Nick Ball’s efforts on that set, and then Andy Schumm returned with a whole hour of the Wolverines. Andy’s playing as Bix Beiderbecke on Saturday night was top-notch, and then just an hour later he was picking up a saxophone and blasting the hell out of it as a young Coleman Hawkins in “A Rhythmic Dream, Fletcher Henderson 1927-1930.” Bandleader Josh Duffee stepped in to fill the role that was to have been filled by Claus Jacobi. When instructing the band he told them “to just go for it,” and they really didn’t disappoint. Talk about a musical handbrake turn…
Sunday morning gave Nicolle Rochelle another chance to shine, taking the role of Mamie Smith. Her performance of “Don’t Mess With Me” had us all captivated. Many of the musicians afterwards said that was her best performance. This stuff is not at all easy to sing, and sing convincingly either. Nicolle made it look so easy. “That made me so happy,” said David Horniblow after the number. “Most people want a Ferrari, I want to be able to do that,” he added. Afterwards, Lorenzo Baldasso returned with an all-too-brief set of Irving Mills’ Hotsy Totsy Gang, before Michael McQuaid explored another under-rated musician, Thomas Morris. Once again, there is literally nowhere else you will hear such a wide variety of music played in one place.
The afternoon ended with Thomas “Spats” Langham doing an excellent job singing as Ukulele Ike, recreating his work with Red Nichols, played by Mike Davis of course. Once again, another set of music which is not at all easy to sing as Mr Langham pointed out. Mike had arranged the set so as to give his voice a little break in between numbers. The last set of the afternoon was a look at “The Two Bright Boys: Cecil and Lloyd Scott.” Michael McQuaid led this one, and used it to pay tribute to the great Claus Jacobi, again reminding the audience how much of his work had gone into this weekend.
Sunday evening at the Party is always the worst part. The knowledge that it is almost over for another year is enough to make any jazz fan gloomy. Martin Wheatley led us through another unusual set—a tour through 1920s London with different songs played from each band for each year from 1920 to 1930. Afterwards, party stalwart Emma Fisk returned with her own solo set, a pleasant Grappelli/Reinhardt Hot Club set, before a tribute to Lil Armstrong from Harry Evans.
We ended the festival with the Big Band Battle. Duke Ellington (led by Enrico Tomasso) vs Luis Russell (led by Josh Duffee). Aside from the outstanding playing by everyone on stage, it was also a pleasant surprise to hear Josh Duffee’s entertaining trash talk in his put downs of Enrico Tomasso. Who knew such a mild-mannered musician had it in him? It was of course all in good humor, leaving the audience in stitches with his witty repartees.
I’m keenly aware that several musicians read this review, and I have failed to highlight some of them. This is not at all a criticism of any. There wasn’t one musician who didn’t pull their weight, or play badly. On the contrary, everyone was on top form, and it just elevates the whole thing further. There are very few jazz festivals where musicians spend dozens of hours writing out charts to play perhaps just once. It is a privilege to volunteer for such an event, and give them a platform to make a few hundred other people very happy indeed. The only musician I should highlight is Michael McQuaid, who really went above and beyond to devise how each day would run, and the rehearsal schedule, and then dealt with several last-minute enquires while trying to deal with a broken printer and hundreds of pieces of sheet music to print out.
In 2025, Colin Hancock is joining the team as one of the musical directors, alongside incumbent Michael McQuaid. Colin was the previous winner of one of the Party’s Young Talent Awards and will do a terrific job. Colin needs no introduction to readers of this publication, and the future of the festival is safe in their knowledgeable hands.
The Classic Jazz Party experience is always hard to define in words if you aren’t there, and it is impossible to describe just what an intense, enjoyable, and overall fun weekend it is. It really has to be seen to be believed, and I advise you to book a ticket now before the whole event sells out again in 2025, which it is sure to do.
Below is a full list of 2024 concert themes:
A Centenary Celebration: Bix and The Wolverines; After the Armistice: Jass in London 1919-23; Pleasure Mad—Charlie Creath and Dewey Jackson; Futuristic Rhythms—Irving Mills’ Hotsy Totsy Gang; The Red Heads and Ukulele Ike; A Rhythmic Dream: Fletcher Henderson; Modernism in Mayfair: The Piccadilly Revels Band; Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds; Livin’ High—Clarence Williams’ Blue Five; No Regrets—Teddy Wilson and Billie Holiday; Creole Trombone: The Music of Kid Ory; Roger Wolfe Kahn—On Top Of The World; Boyd Senter; Vic Meyers; An Evening In Town; Born To Swing—Lil Armstrong in the 1930s; Quintette Du Hot Club De Cobalt Business Park; Josephine Baker; Early Bennie Moten; The Guitar: Solo and in Combination; Just Wild About Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake; The Two Bright Boys: Cecil Scott and Lloyd Scott; Thomas Morris—A Past Jazz Master; Bobby Hackett & the Singers; Gene Austin; Benny Goodman And His Rhythm Makers; A Battle of the Bands: Duke Ellington vs Luis Russell
and the musicians invited:
Trumpet: Andy Schumm (USA), Malo Mazurié (France), Mike Davis (USA), Enrico Tomasso (UK), Torstein Kubban (Norway), Jon-Erik Kellso (USA)
Reeds: Lars Frank (Norway), Lorenzo Baldasso (Italy), Michael McQuaid (UK), Natalie Scharf (USA) David Horniblow (UK), Jean-François Bonnel (France), Richard Exall (UK)
Trombone: Alistair Allan (UK), Graham Hughes (UK), Charlie Halloran (USA)
Piano: Andrew Oliver (USA), David Boeddinghaus (USA), Morten Gunnar Larsen (Norway), Ulf Johansson Werre (Sweden)
Guitar & Banjo: Thomas “Spats” Langham (UK), Martin Wheatley (UK), Félix Hunot (France), Curtis Volp (UK)
Brass bass & string bass: Phil Rutherford (UK), Henry Lemaire (France), Harry Evans (UK)
Drums & Percussion: Nicholas D. Ball (UK), Josh Duffee (USA), Richard Pite (UK)
Violin: Emma Fisk (UK)
Vocals: Thomas “Spats” Langham (UK), Nicolle Rochelle (France) Mike Davis (USA)
