[Dixielandjazz] Jonathan Russell 9 Year Old Jazz Violin

[Stephen Barbone]

Just got back from today's gig in Downtown West Chester PA. Barbone
Street plus special guest 9 year old jazz violin sensation Jonathan
Russell from New York City.

WHAT A BLAST.

Picture a giant block party, four city blocks long and the cross street
1 block on either side all closed down to traffic. Start 11 AM, Finish 5
PM. Bands at either end of the 4 block long central core. 6 bands
throughout the day. Then add street vendors, clothing, antiques, food,
soft drinks etc. in the streets. Plus a kids area in the center with
rides, rock climbing devices, toys, etc.

Add 10 to 15 000 attendees of all ages, from babies in strollers to
folks in their 80s. Presented by the Recreation Department of the
Borough (Town) of West Chester, population 30,000.

Then add Barbone Street, a well known band locally. See an audience of
folks from 2 to 80 crowding around enjoying the music. Add some swing
dancers (fans too), 20 something year olds who dance the Lindy, Balboa,
Shag, etc., and do it well in the street. Pretty neat so far?

Now, picture  9 year old violinist playing OKOM, in real "JAZZ" style,
on the spot with this group of old boys who could be his great
grandfather. No charts, no music, just a young guy joining a band first
time. No rehearsal, no time to figure out who will play what. What kind
of result would you expect?

Well, it was quite extraordinary. Jonathan has the ears of a GIANT. No
he is not as good as Joe Venuti or Stephane Grappelli . . . YET, but he
will be. He is, at this moment in his life, a lot better than anyone
would have a right to expect. He swings, he improvises, he uses jazz
devices, taught to him by grammy award winner Andy Stein, and others. He
is a joy to work with, if you are secure in your own musicianship and
don't mind the fact that he generates more crowd reaction and applause
then anyone else in the band. He also sang in  soprano voice and he did
that well to the absolute delight of the audience..

We had generated some advance press in the local paper and on radio, and
at the performance, generated some photos by the press. The event, Super
Sunday, benefits Habitat for Humanity, has about 20 sponsors and the
major sponsor is QVC.

He does it all including trading fours, and will gladly trade twos if
you can keep up with him. Looking around at our audience, it was a treat
to see the smiles and hear the cheers as he played, both in ensemble and
solo. When he took the lead, we filled. When we took the lead he filled.
When I asked him if he played Hackensack (T. Monk's composition over the
chords of Gershwin's Lady Be Good) he said no. But he does play Lady Be
Good in G. I asked him if he could do it in F to make it easy on this
old man. "Sure" he replied, "that's only down a step." So we did
Hackensack in F. Afterwards he said. "Hey, now I can play a Monk tune."
He had picked up the lead line by the time we were finished the song.
Scary

He lowered our band average age from 70 to 61. Then we had a 13 year old
girl come up and sing, further lowering our average age to 55. She did
very well. Hey, if this keeps up we'll soon be 30 again.

The crowd, loved it. Fans kept asking me how did I get a hold of him.
Did he really come all the way from NYC 100 miles away to play with us?
etc.

"Sure", I replied. "I just called Eve (his mom) and asked if Jonathan
could come out and play this Sunday".

If there is a moral to this, it is simple. Want to perpetuate this
music? Get with the young folks. Create PAYING gigs for them. Simple as
that and it is not hard to do. Moreover, the audience loves it and
you'll go home with a big smile on your face. My face still hurts from 2
hours of smiling during the gig. Almost better than sex . . .  Almost.

And it was a treat for him. Afterwards, he reverted to being a normal 9
year old boy again and went over to the rides section. "I think I'll go
rock climbing he said and see what else is happening there." Yeah, that
gig money was burning a hole in his pocket and he had enough to climb
Mount Everest . . . well almost.

Anybody out there going for general audiences should take a look at
Jonathan's web site. If you can possibly afford him, go get him. Do it
now before he becomes as good or better than Andy Stein, Stephane
Grappelli and Joe Venuti because you sure won't be able to afford him
then.

www.geocities.com/jonathanjazz/

We had so much fun, and he was so good that I totally forgot to throw
beads. Ah well, next month at Turk's Head Music Festival in West
Chester. He be there with us, along with the 13 year old gal singer.
She's going to open the show with the National Anthem. When we go on (in
the midst of 11 bands) I'll remember the beads. And he can go rock
climbing again afterwards.

Cheers,
Steve (passing the torch) Barbone

PS. The General Audience: That's where the music will grow. Make it
relevant any way you can and Jonathan Russell is about as relevant to
the general audience as you can get. His play list is about 40 OKOM
songs so far, plus any blues you care to play. Plus a rendition of Dark
Eyes, (backed by our guitarist, bass and tasty drums) that will bring
out the gypsy in you and drive the audience wild.