[Dixielandjazz] Jazz history in Israel

[Elazar Brandt]

Shalom Jazz Fans!

The Doctor Jazz Trio + 2 took another small step forward making Jazz history in Israel today as we recorded our first CD. The
working title is "Ben Yehuda Street Parade", after our downtown pedestrian mall, which is also my office and our primary stage. A
long full day in the studio yielded 14 or 15 usable tracks, which looks like it will be about 50 minutes of happy standards. We
still have to do mixing and mastering, but the raw tracks came out beyond our expectations, as everyone worked hard to maintain
energy and good spirits throughout a very long session. With a bit of luck and perseverance, we will see the project through the
production process in the next 10 days or so, and we will be able to head out to Holland on our first "international tour" (we plan
to do street music in Amsterdam and lots of other places for about 3 weeks) with our hot little disk in our hot little hands. I came
back from India last week with 2 new outfits for the band -- one a royal blue satin outfit with gold vest, and the other an exotic
looking marching uniform in white with red and gold trim -- so we will hit the Netherlands looking and sounding great, and hopefully
come home with a couple extra euros.

The most gratifying part for me is that my 2 partners that make up the trio are my own students who learned to play bone and banjo
from me, and have learned now some 4 hours of repertoire and how to make it swing. Our playing is still basic, but it's in the
groove and makes people smile and dance. The two pros are great guys and great players, but they don't play much trad-jazz without
us. So we're the ones making it happen in Jerusalem, and that's kind of nice. We're finally beginning to get some recognition and
the jobs to go with it.

After we return, we are planning to push school programs and a jazz club or society so we can start consolidating some of the gains
we've made and lay a foundation to build on. I'll also be working to recruit more students and get them into performing groups as
quickly as possible.

Thank you all for your encouragement, and I hope our progress is also an encouragement to you.

Elazar
Misrad HaJazz
Doctor Jazz Band
Jerusalem, Israel
<www.israel.net/ministry-of-jazz>
Tel: +972-2-679-2537