[Dixielandjazz] Pismo Beach Festival = Swing & Dixie

[Steve Barbone]

>From the San Luis Obispo Tribune. Posted without comment.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

Dixieland delights - By Josh Krane - jkrane at thetribunenews.com

The sounds of early New Orleans jazz will resonate in Pismo Beach this
weekend at the 30th annual "Jubilee by the Sea," a Dixieland and swing music
festival that kicks off Friday. Twenty bands, including the Midiri Brothers,
High Sierra and five other featured acts will be part of the 130
performances scheduled for the three-day festival. A shuttle will take
patrons to six venues scattered throughout the city.

"It¹s such a phenomenal experience," said Tasha Brittain, a resident of Los
Osos who will lead the Tasha Brittain Quartet at the festival. "It gets
younger people and older people together to listen to music that needs to be
restored. It¹s a lot of good times."

Jubilee by the Sea began as an experiment three decades ago and has since
become the second-largest jazz festival in California. It was started by the
Basin Street Regulars, a nonprofit group dedicated to promoting and
preserving Dixieland, the earliest form of jazz, which peaked in the 1920s.
The festival attracts about 2,000 people each year. Parts of the proceeds
will go toward music camp scholarships for young musicians.

A few years ago the festival opened its stages to swing music, a successor
to Dixieland, to attract more youthful audiences. Festival Director George
Smith said the event might add even more modern styles of jazz in years to
come.

"The people who grew up listening to Dixieland are fading away," said Smith,
a member of the Basin Street Regulars for 12 years. "The bathtub is draining
faster than we can fill it, so we¹re trying to bring in younger crowds."

On Saturday, single event tickets will be available at the Addie Street
venue, which overlooks the ocean near the Pismo pier, to attract those
audiences. The day will exclusively feature swing music from the Cal Poly
Jazz Band, Cuesta College Monday Night Jazz Band, Viper Six and others.

"We¹re trying to get the young dancers out," Smith said.

Other venues include the Veteran¹s Memorial Building and St. Anthony¹s
Emporium, both on Bello Street, Marie Callender¹s off Price Street, and the
Prime Outlet shopping center off of the Five Cities Drive exit.

Two special performances will be held Thursday night. Cornet Chop Suey will
perform with Nate Kentnor at the Veteran¹s Memorial Building; and Bob Draga,
Jeff Barnhart and Danny Coots will be at Marie Callender¹s. Both events
start at 6 p.m.

Admission is $20.

Titan Hot Seven, High Sierra, Midiri Brothers, Grand Dominion, Bob Schulz &
Frisco Jazz, Night Blooming Jazzmen and Cornet Chop Suey will be the main
festival¹s featured acts.

Marc Caparone¹s Usonia Jazz Band is one of seven local acts that will
perform at the festival. Caparone, who owns a winery in Paso Robles, plays
trumpet for the band, which performs swing standards of the 1920s and ¹30s
in local spots such as Koberl Blue in San Luis Obispo. The band features
guitar, trombone, reeds, bass and vocals.

Caparone said he¹s looking forward to playing edgier songs at Jubilee by the
Sea. "People in these festivals tend to be die-hard jazz fans," he said. "We
play a lot of material we don¹t play in restaurants. We get to geek out a
little."

Viper Six, a regular at Mother¹s Tavern in downtown San Luis Obispo, will
play jazz and swing from the 1930s and ¹40s, with a mix of original
material. Ted Waterhouse, who leads Viper Six on guitar, said he tries to
write songs that sound like those from that era. The band also features
trumpet, two saxophones, bass and vocals.

Waterhouse said swing music has a uniqueness that attracts contemporary
audiences. "I think people see this as something so original," Waterhouse
said. "Of course it¹s not, but it seems fresh, and I think that appeals to a
lot of young people."

Paul Rinzler will lead the Cal Poly Swing Band, also known as the Blues and
Boogie Big Band, through jazz and R&B standards of the 1940s and ¹50s by
artists like Louis Armstrong. The band, which features four trumpets, four
trombones, three saxophones, piano, bass, drums and guitar, will perform
with special guest vocalist Sunny Wright.

The 18-piece Central City Swing will play 1940s-to-contemporary swing jazz.
The Santa Maria-based band consists of both amateur and professional
musicians and only performs a few dates each year. Bob Swayze, who directs
the group, said Central City Swing gives its members an outlet for playing
big-band music, a form of swing jazz that is dying. The band consists of
four trumpets, four trombones, five saxophones, bass, guitar, piano and
drums.

Jubilee by the Sea
When: Friday through Sunday
Where: Multiple venues in Pismo Beach
How much: $75 for all events badges
Info: 773-4382 or 800-443-7778, www.pismojazz.com