From the Big Apple to the Sunshine State
East Coast Jazz All-Stars swing Sunday May 20, in Marietta
By Russ Tarby
The East Coast Jazz All-Stars, featuring Florida-based clarinetist Allan Vach (c), will perform from 3 to 7 p.m., on Sunday, May 20, at the Marietta House, Route 174 (off Route 20), in Marietta. Admission costs $15, and a pub menu will be available; 636-8299. The concert is sponsored by the Jazz Appreciation Society of Syracuse. Trad-jazz tunes
The all-stars feature Vach (c) on clarinet, bassist Phil Flanigan, pianist Rod Blumenau, drummer Bob Livingston, vocalist Hanna Richardson, and Randy Reinhart doubling on trombone and cornet. While husband-and-wife Flanigan and Richardson live in Syracuse, Blumenau and Livingston hail from Western New York, Reinhart resides in Manhattan and Vach (c) comes all the way from Orlando, Fla.
The product of a musical family, Vach (c)’s father, Warren Vach (c) Sr. was a noted jazz bassist, while his brother, Warren Vach (c) Jr. plays cornet. Vach (c)’s newest disc on Arbors Records is a tribute to Benny Goodman entitled With Benny in Mind. Reinhart is one of the Big Apple’s most sought-after musicians for jazz sessions and combo work.
Like Vach (c), Reinhart also records for the Arbors label and his newest disc is called “As Long As I Live.” Some of the tunes the all-stars are likely to perform Sunday include “Clarinet Marmalade,” “Yellow Dog Blues,” “Mood Indigo” and “The Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gave to Me.” Occasionally Vach (c) departs from the trad-jazz repertoire to play a popular standard such as “Danny Boy.”
Hanna and Phil
The Westcott neighborhood couple Hanna Richardson and Phil Flanigan will be among the musicians featured Sunday at the JASS concert at the Marietta House. Vocalist Hanna and bassist Phil will surely showcase a few cuts from their previous two discs, Things Are Looking Up and Something to Remember You By, a tribute to Maxine Sullivan.
June will be a busy month for Hanna and Phil. On June 9, Phil appears with singer Terry Blaine, pianist Mark Shane and clarinetist Allan Vach (c) in Caesaria, Israel, and on June 12 from 6 to 9 p.m., Phil and Hanna appear with guitarist Bob Sneider and drummer Mike Melito at the Rochester Jazz Festival’s Gibbs Street Stage.
Then, on the afternoon of Saturday June 16, the couple will perform in a trio setting at the village of Liverpool’s Arts & Wellness Celebration 2007, in Johnson Park, in the village center. Accompanied by guitarist Bob Sneider, the husband-and-wife duo will perform at 1:15 p.m. that day. Their forthcoming disc, Live at the Fleece, recorded last year in England, should be available in June.
For information about the trio’s June 16 performance in Liverpool, call 234-9333. For artist info, log on to www.hannaphil.com.
Historic venue
Jonathan Russell built the original Marietta House in 1830 to accommodate travelers along the Skaneateles/Hamilton Turnpike. That historic structure was destroyed by flames in 1935, when owners Don and Ethel Dillon relocated the restaurant in a barn behind the original building, and dubbed it “Dillons.”
In 1969, Tom Donovan, the present Marietta House owner, purchased the business from the Dillons. Donovan kept the Dillons’ name until 1984 when he extensively renovated the place and renamed it the Marietta House. The facility has become popular with wedding parties and others who enjoy the mature gardens, brick patio and stately gazebo. Add jazz and the old place becomes even more attractive.
While the East Coast All-Stars perform a special concert at the Marietta House on Sunday afternoon May 20, the Irish Channel Quartet returns with its authentic sounds of New Orleans from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. on June 15.
