Jazzfest 2008 - Bands

Connie Jones' Crescent City Jazz Band

The performers in this band included Connie Jones on cornet, Jimmy Webber on trumpet and vocal, John Mahoney on bass trombone, Rick Trolsen on trombone, Otis Mazoon (?) on tenor sax and clarinet, Tim Laughlin on clarinet, David Bodinghouse on piano, Ed Wise on bass and Richard Taylor on drums. Their set included Potato Head Blues, Basin Street Blues, Rose of Washington Square, Riverboat Shuffle, Savoy Blues, Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans and High Society.

The Original Last Straws

The personnel of this band included Clive Wilson on trumpet, Darryl Barnes on trombone, Bill Lee on soprano sax, Walter Chamberlain on banjo, Frank de la Houssie (?) and John du Parque (?) on piano, Bobby Hayes on bass and (someone) McEntire on drums. Their set included Doctor Jazz, I Ain't Gonna Give Nobody None of My Jelly Roll, Lou-i-si-an-i-a, Baby, Won't You Please Come Home, I've Found a New Baby, Cabaret, Exactly Like You and Time Marches on.

Gregg Stafford's Young Tuxedo Brass Band

This is another of the traditional brass bands. The band members included Gregg Stafford, (someone) St Cyr and Dwayne Barnes on trumpet, Dr. Michael White on clarinet, Joseph Torregano and Daniel (someone) on tenor sax, Wendell Eugene and Fred Lonzo on trombone, Domingo Smith on tuba and Frank Oxley and Lawrence Baptiste on drums. Some of these guys have been playing together for quite a while - I saw an LP of this group from sometime in the 70s (I think) where it looked like they were all fresh out of high school. They were joined by the Lady Jetsetters Social Aid and Pleasure Club. The Young Tuxedo Brass Band always performs a demonstration jazz funeral - for this, they performed Over in the Glory Land, In the Sweet By and By and Joe Avery's Piece. They also performed Paul Barbarin's Second Line, Bugle Boy March, Just a Little While to Stay Here, By and By and Bourbon Street Parade.

Tricia "Teedy" Boutté & the Ytre Soløens Jazz Band of Norway

The last time I saw Teedy Boutté was at Jazzfest several years ago when she had just recovered from cancer. She moved to Norway as a result of Katrina, and had many good things to say about her experiences in that country. She was joined at Jazzfest by the Ytre Soløens Jazz Band of Norway. Unfortunately, I didn't get the names of the band members (the Norwegian names were hard for me to catch). There was a contingent of Norwegians in the audience who marched around during the set waving Norwegian flags - you can see them among my second line pictures. At one point the band was joined by the vocal trio of Kim Longstreet, David Longstreet and C. C. Hawkins. The set included Red Wing, Everybody Loves My Baby, St. Louis Blues, Darktown Strutter's Ball, Down in Honky Tonk Town, When It's Sleepy Time Down South and Can't Nobody Do It Like Jesus.

Tribute to George Lewis featuring Dr. Michael White, Tommy Sancton & Sammy Rimington

George Lewis was a New Orleans clarinetist who first became well-known in the forties during the traditional jazz revival era. He performed a lot with Bunk Johnson, although in my opinion Lewis was a much better musician than Johnson. Lewis's playing wasn't very sophisticated, but he had a lot of feeling - depending on the piece he could play both sweetly or with a lot of heat and drive. He was an influence on many other clarinetists in the city, including the three in this tribute. In addition to Dr. Michael White, Tommy Sancton and Sammy Rimington on clarinet, the band also included Seva Venet on banjo, Jerry Adams on bass, Lars Edegran on piano and Frank Oxley on drums. The set included Collegiate (not the pop song from the twenties, but another piece of the same name), The Old Rugged Cross, His Eye Is on the Sparrow, Red Wing, In the Upper Garden, Over the Waves, Burgundy Street Blues (a George Lewis composition) and St. Philip Street Breakdown.

Harlem Blues and Jazz Band with special guest Gunhild Carling