Swing Served Hot At Jazz Fest

Spokane Dixieland Jazz Fest Friday, Saturday and Sunday, June 4-6, Masonic Temple

When I walked into the Masonic Temple auditorium on the first night of the Spokane Dixieland Jazz Festival around 6:30, I was wondering if they forgot to invite people to their party. The room was less than half full, and I listened to the Fulton Street Jazz Band play a number or two before a couple of tentative dancers took the floor.

I wondered for a few moments if the fifth year was showing a downhill slide for the three-day traditional jazz jamboree. The number of bands was the same, but where were the crowds of the last few years?

It didn’t take long to have that question answered. People streamed in steadily and, by 8 p.m., the seats were full and the dance floors were packed in both the auditorium and the ballroom. The joint was jumping.

It seems that the festival has reached a strong equilibrium. The Spokane community and the facility - the funky and cool Masonic Temple - seem to be able to sustain about nine or 10 bands.

Combining what seems to be growing local interest in the style with the faithful followers - those fresh from the Sacramento Jubilee and willing to roam all over the country pursuing jazz nirvana - Spokane is able to pack them in for this event and leave them wanting just a little bit more.

The overall quality of the bands was as good as or better than years past. Quality should probably be defined here. The focus of our festival seems to be the more historically accurate and better researched bands, which is also the national trend.

Authenticity and purity is the name of the game, as well as great old musical finds. It is as if every band had a chest of sheet music and original recordings in their attics that haven’t seen the light of day since the teens and twenties. If the play lists from what amounts to nearly 100 hours of live music over the weekend could be compiled, there would probably only be a handful of repeated tunes.

Returning favorites, including the Golden Eagles, Grand Dominion, Uptown Lowdown, Black Swan and Evergreen, are some of the best groups around. And the bands new to our neck of the woods were noteworthy.

Tex Wyndham’s MTB Jazz Band topped the list. Their set showed a band with no weak links, good ensemble, strong and creative soloing all around, and a hotter-than-hot sound. This all-star band, hand-picked from all over the country for a birthday party, keeps getting back together and spontaneously cooks.

Clint Baker’s Band was also a first-timer at the festival. While there was some nice stuff happening in the set I heard, there were some less-than-stellar moments as well. To be fair, I don’t think I heard the band at the top of its game; their trombonist was seriously under the weather and had to leave the stage midset.

Fulton Street, a long-standing band new to us, also weighed in with a mellow, well-balanced and very polished sound.