Break Out Your Toe-Tapping Shoes Three-Day Dixieland Festival Begins Friday At Spokane’S Masonic Temple

Thu., May 28, 1998

William Berry Correspondent

There will be Dixieland music down by the riverside four years running. Yes, the Spokane Dixieland Jazz Festival is cooking up some hot old jazz for the weekend.

Ten bands from all over are coming to town to play traditional jazz, practically non-stop, from Friday noon to Sunday night. This year, the festival is bringing in Jean Kittrell and the St. Louis Rivermen, the Devil Mountain Jazz Band, Grand Dominion, the Golden Eagle Jazz Band, Uptown Lowdown, the Evergreen Classic Jazz Band, Electric Park, the On the Side Band, the Planet Lounge Orchestra and Desafinado.

Jazz was born in New Orleans, but quickly spread to cities that became known for their own sounds — Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco and the like. Similarly, each band that rediscovers early jazz develops its own distinct approach to the music. Some groups are devoted to re-creating the sounds of the past with careful attention to historic detail, and others meld more modern styles with the traditions. Both can be fun to hear.

The result is that, even if you listened to every note at the festival, it would be unlikely that you would hear the same tune played the same way twice. Personalities, both individual and group, play a huge role in how this music gets performed. If you have any interest in jazz improvisation and its roots, you can earn a semester in jazz college with a weekend of comparative listening. Or if you just want to tap your toes to hot jazz, the festival is the place to be.

Three to five years is usually what it takes to get an event of this size and caliber up and running, and here we are at Festival No. 4. I hope I won’t put jinxes on it by saying it could be a “make or break” year, but organizers Dean and Jean Martin and their crew don’t slow down for jinxes anyway.

On the plus side, the festival has carved out a time, place and name for itself that were good choices and have remained consistent. The weekend after Memorial Day falls early in the season of Dixieland events held all over the country, attracts a good deal of traveling interest and fits into the local calendar.

The Masonic Temple in downtown Spokane is a great location. It has plenty of funky old ballrooms and auditoriums for dancing or sitting and listening, and no need to waste time trekking from site to site. In the temple, the strains of one band will carry you until you can catch the next, unless you are in the elevator.

The size of the Dixieland Jazz Festival has remained pretty much the same since its inception. Four stages and 10 bands may be all Spokane can handle. On the other hand, if you wanted to hear an entire set from each group, it would take more than one day to do it.

The quality of the bands has been consistent, with several of the better bands returning every year along with some new blood. Attendance has grown each year, and we will just have to wait and see how long the jazz festival can ride what looks like a winner.

FESTIVAL FUN The fourth annual Spokane Dixieland Jazz Festival runs Friday through Sunday at the Masonic Temple, 1108 W. Riverside. There will be an opening ceremony at noon on Friday at the Wall Street Mall in downtown Spokane, featuring Jean Kittrell and the St. Louis Rivermen. The bands rotate on four stages at the temple and will play almost continuously on Friday from 4:30 p.m. to midnight; on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to midnight, and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tickets, which include all activities for the day, are $15 for Friday, $25 for Saturday, $15 for Sunday or $50 for the entire weekend. Tickets are available at the door. A free gospel service featuring Grand Dominion will be held on Sunday morning at 9:30. An “Afterglow Party” will be held at the Bayou Brewing Company at 7 p.m. on Sunday; $27.50 gets you in the door and includes food and the live music.

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