Continued: Yankee Jazz Beat

There is live jazz for brunch every Sunday at Bullfinch's Restaurant, 730 Boston Post Road, Sudbury, Mass. On Nov. 30, the brunch featured the Dave Whitney Trio. Call (978) 443-4093 for more information concerning the Sunday jazz brunches.

In Connecticut, Fred Vigorito's Galvanized Jazz Band played Oct. 26 at Marisa's Restaurant, Trumbull, and GJB's guests were Coast Guard trombonist Ben Griffin; Sherman Kahn, former Sammy Kaye Orchestra reedman; and vocalist Cynthia Fabian, winner of the Connecticut Blues Contest.

On Oct. 28, GJB and the award-winning Guilford High School Jazz Ensemble, directed by Tom Boates, performed together and separately in concert at the Guilford High School auditorium, Guilford, and the gig ended with a grand finale as all 30 musicians marched around the auditorium to "When the Saints Go Marching In."

On Nov. 9, GJB with trombonist Boates, drummer Ed Stockmal, Cynthia Fabian, and banjoist Joel Schiavone as guests, again performed at Marisa's. GJB will return to Marisa's Jan. 18 (6-8:30 p.m.). Call (203) 459-4225 for reservations.

GJB, with trombonist Craig Grant, banjoist Bob Price and vocalist Jane Campedelli, along with 24 other bands, were at the Suncoast Dixieland Jazz Classic, Clearwater, Fla., Nov. 21- 23. GJB has a new CD in the works. It is a Music Mountain session featuring former Duke Ellington trombonist Art Baron and Price.

Also in Connecticut, drummer Bill Logozzo's Heartbeat Jazz Band, with trombonist Skip Hughes and Cynthia Fabian as guests, entertained at Oliver's, a restaurant in Essex, on Nov. 6 and Dec. 4. Emma Sayles, a high school drummer, was with the band on Dec. 4.

On Oct. 2 and Nov. 13, trombonist Jim Fryer played with the Bearcat Jazz Band at the Silvermine Tavern, Norwalk, Conn., and on Oct. 4 and Nov. 3, Fryer was there with The Usual Suspects (pianist Rex Cadwallader, bassist Gen Rose, and young drummer Justin Ottaviano from Guilford). On Nov. 3, Fryer played with the Cool Cats at the Woodrow Wilson Middle School, Middletown, Conn. The clarinetist was Sherman Kahn.

The 2009 Great Connecticut Traditional Jazz Festival will be held July 31 to Aug. 2 at Mountain Ridge, Wallingford, Conn. John Clark's Wolverines will be there.

This Side of Dixie, a trio led by banjoist/vocalist Bob Sundstrom, performed Nov. 9 at the Half Moon Restaurant, Coventry, R.I. Craig Ball played clarinet, and John Clark played mainly bass sax.

In Rhode Island, on Nov. 14, the Stadium Theatre Performing Arts Centre, Woonsocket, presented "In the Mood," a 1940s big band theatrical swing dance revue, featuring the music of Glenn Miller, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Erskine Hawkins, the Andrews Sisters, Frank Sinatra, and others. Performing was a company of 22, including the In the Mood Singers and Dancers with the String of Pearls Orchestra. The show's music arrangements, costumes and choreography were advertised "as authentic as it gets!" and the show featured "the music that moved the nation's spirit and helped win a war. This was the last time when all of America was listening and dancing to the same kind of music."

If you have news of traditional jazz, swing or ragtime in New England, e-mail me at algeob@aol.com or call me at (781) 762-9344 please. I'd like to learn more about what is happening in Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont.

December 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.