[Dixielandjazz] Vince Giordano at Iridium, Wednesday's in July

[Steve Barbone]

Vince Giordano's latest press coverage. Do not miss these performances if
you are anywhere near NYC this month.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone


IRIDIUM JAZZ CLUB 1650 BROADWAY (Corner of 51st)
NEW YORK, NY 10023 212-582-2121, www.iridiumjazzclub.com

Wednesday¹s In July: 5, 12, 19 VINCE GIORDANO AND THE NIGHTHAWKS

The Iridium Jazz Club is pleased to present the 11-piece Jazz Age Big Band
Vince Giordano and his Nighthawks.

Vince & His Nighthawks will keep patrons at The Iridium entertained with
swinging jazz music of the Œ20s and Œ30s during weekly performances every
Wednesday July 5, 12, & 19 sets at 8:30 and 10:30 PM.

The performances resurrect jazz sounds of yesteryear and promise to keep
patrons entertained while providing a festive atmosphere.  The 11-piece
group has been featured on many movie soundtracks including Cotton Club,
Finding Forrester, Ghostworld, Bloodhounds on Broadway and Sweet & Low Down,
has provided music for Woody Allen¹s last five films, and Martin Scorsese¹s
The Aviator. Vince and The Nighthawks Orchestra are featured on  the new
Bluebird Records CD "It¹s DE LOVELY", backing up vintage recordings of Cole
Porter singing.

As a fledging musician, Vince got a lesson from Pablo Casals. "I was
watching one of his Master Classes on the television. They were old
kinescopes, poorly filmed and very echoey. One session, a young lady cellist
puts down her bow and said, "Oh Mister Casals, I have so much to learn!"
Casals raised his eyebrows and bow and loudly exclaimed, "I have so much to
learn!" Vince interjected a message from that and now rarely sleeps. During
the day he file-searches and curates at the RCA/BMG Archives; during the
evenings he continues his early investigation of early jazz and swing
compositions, and in-between times, he's sharing what he's learned with the
audience. What he's learned, says the New Yorker, "breathes life into an
overlooked era". 

Vince was born in Brooklyn and moved to Long Island when he was two. He
started on the violin in the third grade but switched to tuba, string bass
and bass sax in his early teens.

By 14, he was working with Dixieland and banjo bands. Yes, he would revisit
his grandmother back in Brooklyn to listen to her massive 78-rpm collection
but it took a study and friendship with Bill Challis, the Goldkette /
Whiteman arranger to mentor him on the ever wining music of he Jazz Age

Joining the Navy in 1970, Vince toured with the Navy Show Band. After his
tour of duty, it led him to engagements with Tony Parenti, Max Kaminski, and
Dick Hyman in NYC and a tour with Clyde McCoy and Eddy Davis abroad.
Wherever he went, he was collecting relics: records, sheet music, band
arrangements, musical instruments, plus all the old musicians stories.

Then he met Rich Conaty of the radio show "The Big Broadcast" and they
recruited veterans from the 1920's, 30's and 40's big bands to play
pared-down Whiteman arrangements, thus establishing a "Preservation Hall up
in New York" and learning in the process how to organize his own band. In
1976 he created Vince Giordano's Nighthawks.

"Beginning with our CD "Quality Shout", I was determined to record what I
grew up listening to, to recreate those great arrangements, those great
bands." As crowning rewards for his determination, Vince has worked with
film directors; Francis Ford Coppola, Woody Allen, Gus Van Sant, and was
just appointed music director for Martin Scorsese's upcoming film on Howard
Hughes: The Aviator. Vince may be flashing his smile, playing one of his
bass instruments, even singing, or making like Glen Gray with a baton and
back to the audience, or off camera worrying about details; like setting up
his old Kellogg microphone for the next number, Jazznocracy-a rapturously
aerobic tune which the Nighthawks break the tempo barrier when they perform
it!