[Dixielandjazz] Dr Jazz Delights Israel Festival Fans

[Elazar Brandt]

Shalom Jazz Fans,

A bit of jazz news from Israel. This past weekend was the 29th Jacob's Ladder
Folk Music Festival in Israel. My Dr Jazz Dixieland Band was invited to play two
shows on outdoor stages by the shore of the Sea of Galilee north of Tiberias. As
far as I know this was the first time a Dixieland band crashed the venerable
folk music festival, which normally features Bluegrass, country western, Irish,
Scottish and Celtic music, and anything American or European that can be
considered "folk". All of the above were well represented, as usual. And into
the traditional mix dove our intrepid Dr Jazz players with red vests, straw
hats, and sporting our own lamp post reminiscent of French Quarter gas lamps,
with a sing that reads "Bourbon Street" attached. Sort of a "we bring Bourbon
Street to you" gesture.

Our 5 piece line up featured yours truly on cornet and trombone, my two former
students on banjo and trombone, and our Russian tuba player from the Jerusalem
police band, along with guest washboardist Lou Berger from San Diego. Lou
happened to be on his first trip to Israel, and he also happens to play with the
Bayside Dixie Stompers in SD, a band that I was one of the founding members of
back when we had no gigs. I gather they are now working and doing well. Our
clarinet player couldn't make it, which did not help my lip as I had to take up
the slack, but we played two fairly tight shows to very happy crowds, and
managed to sell a few handfuls of CDs.

One particular hit was our rendition of Disney's "The Bare Necessities", with
the whole front line wearing animal masks while playing the song. Pix will be on
our website in a couple weeks.

Meanwhile, we have two more very nice gigs coming up in the first week of June,
and lots of nibbles for summer. And my new trumpet ensemble called "Tekiya"
(named for the blast of the ram's horn in Hebrew) makes our debut performance in
Jerusalem in 2 weeks. That group consists of 3-5 students of mine, all joining
me on either trumpet or cornet. I move to baritone or mellophone now and then if
it sounds better. And so jazz history continues to crawl forward in Israel.

Best regards to all. Wish I could be with you at Sacramento.

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