Spokane Jazz Festival Continuing Success
Spokane Dixieland Jazz Festival The Masonic Temple
Dancing fools and Dixieland fans got their fill this weekend at the third annual Spokane Dixieland Jazz Festival. The event ran Friday through Sunday, and when I checked in Saturday night the joint was jumping.
Attendance is hard to eyeball with the event so spread out, but there seems not to be a lack of traditional jazz fans in town. The auditorium and ballroom of the Masonic Temple were pretty much at capacity, and the two upstairs venues were drawing consistently, if less. It appears that Spokane’s festival is on the map for good.
If success is not so much counted in the numbers as in the quality, the SDJF seems to be heading the right direction in that department as well. On the whole, the best bands from last year returned, and the new bands were a notch up.
The next step for festival expansion would seem to be more bands. There were eight professional bands this year, which is plenty of variety if you attend for just one day, but it’s hard on the bands when they have to play so many sets. Unfortunately more bands means more bucks, and the festival is probably wise to pace itself.
My favorite returning bands were Uptown Lowdown out of Bellevue and The Phoenix Jazzers from Vancouver, B.C. The two groups have different approaches, but the high energy resulting from each member being precisely the right part of the whole is the same.
Phoenix is super tight with tasteful control. The tone is set by the laid-back and mellow cornet of Jim Armstrong. The hot and blazing cornet of Uptown’s leader Bert Barr gives that group a precise cutting edge with a different flavor.
As difficult as ripping myself away from either of those groups was, I had heard great things about the Paramount Jazz Band of Boston, and wanted to check them out in person. Their sound turned out to be more dominated by the reed instruments, who shouldered the burden remarkably.
Paramount’s members were all accomplished instrumentalists who were able to nail anything in the book. Banjo player and vocalist Jimmy Mazzy stood out, even surrounded by that kind of quality, with carefree vocals and scat singing as well as a melodic style of banjo improvisation which is rare.
A tip of the hat was earned by Gremoli, from Placerville, Calif. What seemed to be a stage-full of jazz professors reeking with New Orleans experience was a good lesson in collective improvisation.