The Parlor Boys are multi-instrumentalists. Here, pianist Brad Kay, clarinetist/percussionist Cory Gemme and violinist Dave Weinstein show their mettle on trumpets.

Continued: Tribute to Bix

The final Chicago stop was in Logan Square, an older neighborhood near Milwaukee Ave and Kedzie. We visited a bicycle shop which was at one time the One Cent Club. When legendary jazz researcher Bill Russell visited Chicago in 1938 he rode to the end of the L line, walked a short distance and entered the One Cent Club, where he heard Johnny Dodds playing a one-man job. That's right -- Dodds was playing without accompaniment. No one has been able to explain why he was working without a band, or how he wound up so far from his normal haunts on the South Side. There was almost a full band among the bus tour group, and a spirited jam session ensued, with trombones, trumpets and bicycle parts all in motion at the same time. The room was really small, but I'm sure it hasn't been so full of music since Dodds stopped working there.

The trip then descended into the nightmarish when we made a stop at Pospychala's house in Libertyville to retrieve his electronic piano, at which time the bus driver discovered a serious drop in oil pressure. We limped back to downtown Libertyville and waited at a gas station for a replacement bus. The group finally got underway again and headed back to Racine for a jam session at the Rhino Club, another of the quaint bistros Pospychala favors.

The Festival: Strongest Lineup Yet!

This year's Tribute to Bix had three strong bands, all experienced working units with different styles well grounded in the music of the 1920s. The music was consistently excellent and the crowd responded accordingly, with a number of standing ovations, or STOVs as the late Jazzologist editor Bill Bacin used to say.

The vivacious Janet Klein leads the Parlor Boys. That's banjoist/guitarist Tom Marion at rear.

Janet Klein and her Parlor Boys were new to the Bix Fest this year, though one of the principal Parlor Boys, Brad Kay, who doubles on piano and cornet, is a longtime Bix Fest participant. We're glad he talked Pospychala into bringing the boss this year, as Ms. Klein was a knockout. She's a charming, exuberant performer who makes hot dance music fun. She sings, dances, plays the ukulele and keeps the audience amused with nonstop patter between numbers. My wife, who can normally take or leave much of what she hears when we cover jazz festivals, was enthralled and insisted I buy one of her CDs. Then, once she heard that, I was back online ordering more.

The Parlor Boys name covers a number of players who appear from time to time with Ms. Klein. The group this time out included Brad Kay, piano and trumpet; Tom Marion, guitar and banjo; Dave Jones, bass; Cory Gemme, trumpet, clarinet and small percussion; and Dan Weinstein, violin, trumpet and clarinet. As you can gather from the above, there is a lot of doubling going on, and the group can shift suddenly from a string-oriented unit to one featuring three trumpets in full cry. They are a well-integrated unit and work easily together, as was shown on a couple of instrumental features.

Highlights of Ms. Klein's performances included "Baby O'Mine," "When Jenny Does Her Low Down Dance," "Baltimore," "When Erastus Plays His Old Kazoo," "Hello, Bluebird" and "That's Love." The Parlor Boys were effective in their two instrumentals, "San" and "Bugle Call Rag." The group on most of her records is relatively string-oriented, but for this outing there seemed to be more emphasis on the brass and reeds, though two of the most effective members of the group were the guitarist, Tom Marion, and the violinist, Dave Weinstein, both longtime associates of Ms. Klein's.

Pospychala followed tradition by again providing cakes celebrating Bix's recordings. Here are two of the four festive goodies.

June 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

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