Keith Baltz plays tuba with the versatile Devil Mountain Jazz Band from Oakley, Calif. Devil Mountain was one of five bands performing Sept. 26-28 at the EarlyJas Fall Festival in Strongsville, Ohio.

EarlyJas Fall Festival
Benefits All

Text and Photos by John Bitter

A sure sign of Autumn in Northeast Ohio continues to be the EarlyJas Fall Jazz Festival which was held Sept. 26-28 at the Holiday Inn in Strongsville, Ohio. Recipient of this year's benefit performance was the Kidney Foundation of Summit County. Also benefiting was an audience drawn from 13 states and Canada. As is customary, five working bands rotated in both the ballroom and the lounge in a Friday session, two Saturday sessions and a Sunday session. If you had a favorite among the bands, it would be possible to catch almost seven hours of that band by switching from lounge to ballroom and back.

PHOTO ALBUM
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Sally Lukasik of Cincinnati's Buffalo Ridge Jazz Band

The 2008 lineup included the St. Louis Stompers Classic Jazz Band from Elsberry, Mo., the Buffalo Ridge Jazz Band from Cincinnati, Ohio, Dave Greer's Classic Jazz Stompers from Dayton, Ohio, The Devil Mountain Jazz Band from Oakley, Calif., and the Paramount Jazz Band of Boston, Mass. Quite a formidable group of traditional-oriented jazz musicians.

The St. Louis Stompers are a "high-energy" bunch featuring the Lilley brothers, Steve on cornet and Mike on reeds, with Pat Arana on trombone, Dr. Dave Majchrzak stomping at the piano, Dave Zink on sousaphone and Jack Tartor on drums. The band often turns it up a notch, and the leader on trumpet opts for a flurry on notes now and again which delights a segment of the listening crowd. It was good to see and hear trombonist Pat Arana again, 30-some years after we first heard him at the St. Louis Ragtime Festival when we were all considerably younger.

The Buffalo Ridge Jazz Band is a comfortable fit at these affairs with the talents of husband and wife Joe and Sally Lukasik at the forefront on clarinet and trumpet, respectively. Leader Bob Adams is as relaxed as you can get as he eases into his banjo solos or easygoing vocals. Bob Butters contributes well-constructed trombone solos and ensemble asides, as does tuba man Mike Ward. Drummer Gus Ross was a busy man as he also held down the drum chair for the Dave Greer bunch. Band performance highlights included the trumpet of Sally Lukasik on the Louis Hot Five "Once In A While" and the facile clarinet of husband Joe on a blazing "China Boy."

Cornetist Steve Lilley leads the high-energy St. Louis Stompers. Tunes in the band's repertoire include "Stampede" and "Tank Town Bump."

November 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

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