Bands - May 3

New Leviathan Oriental Foxtrot Orchestra

This large orchestra performs oriental foxtrots, rags, twenties dance tunes, novelty numbers, waltzes, marches and the occasional jazz number. Many of the musicians are doctors or professors (one calls himself "The Fiddling Pathologist.") There were too many musicians to get all their names, especially since the bandleader introduced them all in about sixty seconds. Their set included Take Me Out to the Ball Game, Darktown Strutter's Ball, Egyptian Ella, It's a Long Way to Tipperary, The Sheik of Araby, If You Sheik on Your Mama, Your Mama's Gonna Sheba on You, Kentucky Days, Georgia Pines and Rebecca Came Back from Mecca.

This theremin was given a solo in The Sheik of Araby.

Treme Brass Band

Treme is a neighborhood in New Orleans just across Rampart Street from the French Quarter. I believe most of the musicians in this band come from that neighborhood. I didn't get the names of all the band members - the ones I did get were Eddie King and Leroy (someone) on trombone, Doc Watson on tenor sax, Lionel Baptiste and Benny Jones on drums, Seva Venet on banjo, Ron Espino on tuba, Kenny Terry on trumpet and Harold (someone) on percussion. They were accompanied by the Secondline Jammers Social Aid and Pleasure Club. The set included Second Line, What a Friend We Have in Jesus, Bourbon Street Parade, Bugle Boy Rag, Grazing in the Grass, Go to the Mardi Gras and Joe Avery's Piece.

Danza Quartet featuring Evan Christopher & Tom McDermott

This is one of my favorite groups. Every so often a couple of musiciansget together who understand each other and complement each otherbeautifully. This is the case with clarinetist Evan Christopher andpianist Tom McDermott. They perform a combination of jazz, ragtime,Cuban music and Brazilian choro, with other genres thrown in for fun. In the past they've been featured at Economy Hall, but this year they appeared at the Lagniappe Stage, so I went there to hear them. The band included Evan Christopher on clarinet, Tom McDermott on piano, Matt Perrine on bass, Michael Skinkus on drums and Connie Jones on cornet. The set included Casa Deneasy (?), Creole Nocturne (from Chopin Opus 9 number 2), Tishomingo Blues, La Difference, Keep  on Gwine, Luis Americano and Just a Little While to Stay Here.

New Orleans Jazz Hounds of Tokyo, Japan

I caught the tail end of this set when I returned from hearing Danza at the Lagniappe Stage. I heard them perform Bourbon Street Parade. It sounded like they were singing in phonetic English.

Don Vappie & the Creole Jazz Serenaders

Don Vappie is one of my favorite bandleaders. He usually plays guitar and banjo, although I've seen him on string bass and I've heard he also plays tuba. His band, the Creole Jazz Serenaders, plays a lot of Carribean/Creole flavored jazz, and also what I call proto-swing: the big band music by groups such as McKinney's Cotton Pickers, Luis Russell's Orchestra, Duke Ellington's Orchestra and the Mills Blue Rhythm Band from about 1929 through 1932, just before the swing era hit. I have given Don Vappie several CDs that I burned from my collection of 78s, and he incorporated one of the tracks - Blue Rhythm by the Mills BlueRhythm Band - into his band's repertoire. He recorded this on his CD, Swing Out. The band members included Don Vappie on banjo, guitar and vocal, Tom Fischer on clarinet, alto sax and soprano sax, Bobby Campbell on trumpet, Charlie Fardella on trumpet and vocal, Mark Brooks on bass, O.C. Davis on drums and Ray Moore on tenor sax and clarinet. I missed who was on piano. The set included Blue Rhythm, Nelson Stomp, Riverside Blues, Sweet Georgia Brown, My Bucket Has a Hole in It, Eh La Bas, Short Dress Gal, Dinah and Beedle Um Bum.

Dr. Michael White & the Original Liberty Jazz Band featuring Thais Clark

Clarinetist Dr. Michael White is a professor of music and Spanish at Xavier University in New Orleans. He is loved and appreciated locally, but he rarely tours (possibly because of professional obligations). He always performs at Jazzfest with Thais Clark, a singer who has also written and produced shows. The band included Dr. Michael White on clarinet and vocal, Gregg Stafford on trumpet and vocal, Mark Chatters (?) on trumpet, Lucien Barbarin on trombone, Detroit Brooks on banjo, Steve Pastorius on piano, Roland Guerin on bass, Jason Marsalis on drums and Thais Clark on vocal. The set included St. Louis Blues, Comme Si, Comme Ça, Dark Sunshine, Sunday Morning, King of the Second Line, Blue Crescent, Down in Honky Tonk Town, The Hard Man Blues and Will the Circle Be Unbroken.

Orange Kellin's New Orleans Blue Serenaders featuring Vernel Bagneris

In this set the bandleader Orange Kellin celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of the show One More Time, which Vernel Bagneris performed in (and which Thais Clark co-wrote and performed in - see the above set). I missed the names of a couple of the musicians - the ones I did get are Orange Kellin on clarinet, Steve Pistorius on piano and Vernel Bagneris and Topsy Chapman on vocal. The set included Zero, Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans, Russian Rag (based on Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C-sharp minor), New Orleans Hop Scop Blues, Down in Honky Tonk Town, Must Be Right - Can't Be Wrong, Junk Man Rag, That Eccentric Rag, I've Got the Blues for Home Sweet Home, Cake Walking Babies from Home, My Man, Poor Katie Rag, Busy Fingers, Chevy Chase and Doctor Jazz.

This is Vernel Bagneris.

This is Topsy Chapman.