[Dixielandjazz] NWJO 2008 USA tour

[Geoff Power]

Hello folks,

We arrived home a week ago from our USA tour and are just starting to get
back into this timezone !  I thought I might share some of the highlights
with you...

Bix Fest,Davenport,Iowa

Before the festival, we knew that the Mississippi had recently flooded and
rendered the main outdoor venue, LeClaire Park, unusable, but when we
arrived we discovered that a few days beforehand savage storms had hit the
Quad Cities - many trees were down and many people were without power that
week, including the Clarion Inn which was our accommodation and one of the
festival venues.  Given we're a band who takes it's name from Bix's first
great band, the Bix Fest has always been special for us, but we arrived with
mixed feelings this year - our friend,supporter and long-time Music Director
for the Bix Fest, Rich Johnson, had been diagnosed with lung cancer some
time ago and was now near death.  We arrived on Tuesday and were able to see
him on Wednesday prior to his passing on Thursday.  We dedicated our opening
set of the Festival to Rich (you can find a nice tribute to Rich Johnson in
the current issue of the Mississippi Rag)

Some personal highlights for me:

*meeting and hearing DJML listmate Dave Gannett, in my opinion one of the
leading tubists in the world:

*mentoring several of the Bix Youth Band members:

*hearing Randy Sandke's excellent group, featuring Dan Barrett, Scott
Robinson and Howard Alden:

*meeting Jim Maihack, a musician I have long admired, who came to several of
our sets:

*meeting DJML listmate Don Boyer:

*playing several combined sets with Spats Langham's Rhythm Boys, including a
gig at the Bluebird Inn, a former speakeasy/brothel legend has it that Bix
is supposed to have frequented. European jazz fans will know these fine
musicians:
Spats Langham - banjo/guitar
Mike Durham - trumpet
Norman Field - clarinet/saxophone
Paul Munnery - trombone
Frans Sjostrom - bass saxophone
Josh Duffee - drums(yes, he doubled with our band !!)

We then played concerts in Muscatine, Iowa and Madison, Wisconsin before
flying to Newark.  Using Lafayette, New Jersey as our base, we played
concerts at the Bickford Theatre, Morristown NJ(courtesy of our great mate
Bruce Gast !) and for the Tri-State Jazz Society at Wilmington,Delaware and
recorded at Lafayette with the Smith Street Society Jazz Band, featuring
Vince Giordano and Herb Gardner.

Some highlights of this time:

*meeting Steve Barbone at Wilmington, who came to our first set before
heading off to his own gig:

*recording with wonderful NYC musicians - Vince was excellent, as you would
expect, but I must say it was a real pleasure recording with Herb Gardner,
who was everything Steve said he would be - in my mind, one of the finest
traditional jazz trombonists anywhere ! This recording will soon be
available through www.OKOM.com.

Orange County Classic Jazz Festival,Costa Mesa,California

We then flew to the Left Coast to Costa Mesa, where we last played in 2003.
Nice to see so many of our friends from previous trips, but very sad to not
see one of our great friends, Bill Gunter - his passing has left a void.

My highlights :

*meeting DJML listmates Bobs Ringwald and Williams(the world's most modest
man !!) and hearing them in the fabulous Fulton St. Jazz Band:

*playing a duet with superb musician and terrific guy Bryan Shaw, cornet
player with High Sierra:

*catching up with a great mate of ours, DJML listmate Ed Metz Sr.:

*fantastic after-hours jam sessions with our old friends Paris Washboard(one
of the hottest bands anywhere !!) and the very talented young guys in Club7

*being surprised by the high level of knowledge about and interest in
Australian Jazz - all through the tour, people would bring LPs that our bass
player Harry had made in the 50's !

Thank you to all who made our US tour so enjoyable !

Regards

Geoff