By Mark Bialczak
LPL Communications Specialist
Bandleaders are revved up for Legends of Jazz II.
That means patrons are in for a special time in the Carman Community Room on a Sunday afternoon each of these next four months. They’ll get to hear a diverse array of the American genre in a follow-up to last year’s popular series at the Liverpool Public Library.
Ron Spencer and Jumpstart will kick off “Jumpin’ Jazz from Bebop to Fusion” on Sunday, Jan. 15 with a set of jump blues by the seven-piece band, billed as swingin’ and shufflin’ rhythm and blues of the ‘50s. The Mike Dubaniewicz Quartet follows with tunes from the bebop era on Feb. 19. Jeff Stockham leads the Legacy Horn Sextet for the March 19 show of brass jazz in the style of Thelonious Monk and Miles Davis. Trio E.S.P. closes the series on April 9 with modern jazz written by guitarist John Magnante and bassist Matthew Vacanti. The concerts are presented in partnership with the Liverpool Is the Place Committee. Admission is free.
Guitarist and singer Spencer hasn’t used the band name Jumpstart in a decade, but was glad to bring together his old horn section of Chris Sawyer and Rodney Zajac on tenor and baritone sax, respectively, to join musicians who play with him in his current Ron Spencer Band and another Central New York friend. Front man Mark Gibson, drummer Ross Moe and bass player Bob Purdy are with Spencer now. Keyboard player Jerry Neely is well known for his work with popular blues bands the Kingsnakes, Built for Comfort, the Carolyn Kelly Blues Band and currently Mike Delaney and the Delinquents.
“We’ll be performing primarily rhythm and blues songs, or jump blues as it often is referred to, from the ‘50s by artists such as Buddy Johnson, Wynonie Harris, Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson, Jimmy Liggins and Clarence ‘Gatemouth’ Brown, along with Louis Prima,” Spencer said. “This was the era of smaller combos pared down from the Big Band days of the ‘30s and ‘40s with more emphasis on the rhythm and backbeat, and was the precursor to rock n’ roll, the term coined by Alan Freed.”
Dubaniewicz will educate and entertain the patrons about the textures within jazz, with the talented front man on saxophone joined by Tom Brigandi on bass, David Solazzo on piano and Mike Cortese on drums.
“I’ll be talking a bit about the stylistic shifting of styes from swing to bop, and the paradigm shift — but logical connections — from such players as Louis Armstrong to Dizzy Gillespie, and Lester Young to Bird (Charlie Parker),” Dubaniewicz said. “I will also mention the use of the use of contrafact tunes, that is to say original compositions in in bop that were based on standard chord changes, as well as tunes whose sections were in effect grafted together from two tunes.”
Versatile CNY musician Stockham will play the French horn while leading Paul Merrill on trumpet, Dubaniewicz on tenor sax, Brigandi on bass, Steve Curry on drums and Barry Blumenthal on piano. He chose the set list to show off work he admires.
“Having played French horn for 48 years myself, this is music that holds significance for me, in that almost all of it originally used French horn in jazz settings. Some of the greatest jazz French horn players participated in the original recordings of the material we’ll be doing,” said Stockham, who also plays trumpet and cornet. “Gunther Schuller, Junior Collins, John Graas, Julius Watkins, and mellophonist Don Elliot, among others, have been influences on my own horn playing. My having performed with icons such as Thelonius Monk Jr., Jimmy Heath, Miles’ protege Wallace Roney and other great musicians who worked with Miles, Horace Silver and Thelonius Monk, made me want to showcase this material. It’s a rare occasion to hear classic jazz played on the French horn, and its especially nice to know that folks attending this performance will be there because they know what to expect and are knowledgeable about the music. The intimate setting at LPL makes for direct interaction with the audience, which feeds the performance. The whole band is really looking forward to it.”
E.S.P. has been writing and recording original music since 1999, with seven albums and two Syracuse Area Music Awards to show for it. Music from the last two received radio play throughout the U.S., Australia and Europe. The trio also has played at the Syracuse Jazz Fest, Glenora, Oswego Harborfest, Rochesters Lilac Festival, the Northeast Jazz and Wine Fest and clubs in New York City and Boston. The hometown library show excites them, said Vacanti.
“We love to play for an audience that is actually listening. So often musicians find themselves playing in loud, noisy bars, competing with TV sets playing games,” he said. “Acoustics are never ideal, and it’s hard to get folks to focus on the music without playing louder than you really want to. We are always searching for places where the people are there for the music.
“It’s rare these days,” Vacanti said. “That’s what makes the music series at the library unique. It gives us a chance to play with real dynamics, and subtlety. And the audience is all about supporting live music.”
