[Dixielandjazz] Fabulous 11 days

[GeneLynch5 at aol.com]

This is a bit after the fact, but we had to recover and read all our  
messages first.
 
This odyssey starts on Thanksgiving day, when we drove to San Diego for  
dinner and the start of the wonderful Dixieland Jazz Festival. Buck Creek was  
there and just great, and has already been bemoaned on this list..   Listmate 
Bert Barr's Uptown Lowdown very trad band was its usual superb.   Ragtime queen 
Mimi Blais, Blue Street with Sherri Colby, Cornet Chop Suey, our  benevolent 
moderator's Fulton Street, Grand Dominion, Heliotrope Ragtime  Orchestra, Tim 
Laughlin's New Orleans All Stars  with Connie Jones, Natural  Gas JB, Night 
Blooming Jazzmen, Titanic JB, and a number of less well known  bands kept OKOM 
flowing through 9 venues from early to late.  We heard only  one set on Sunday, 
because we had to drive home.
 
Why did we desert such a wonderful festival and go home?  To board the  
Crystal Symphony for the Jazzdagen/Arbor Records 7 day cruise to the Mexican  
Riviera with 22 superb musicians who were mixed and matched in groups ranging  from 
single to 8 pieces.  First, I should say that Crystal really knows how  to 
make the cruise itself a joy, and Alida Meijers (president of Jazzdagen and  
wife of Pieter Meijers of High Sierra JB) is an excellent tour director.   They 
ain't cheap, but worth every penny.  The all-star musicians (count  'em) Howard 
Alden, Harry Allen, Bill & John Allred, Joe Ascione, Jeff  Barnhart, Joe 
Cohn, John Cocuzzi,Yve Evans, Jeff Hamilton, Tom Hook, Jon-Erik  Kellso, Pieter 
Meijers, Eddie Metz, Jr., Randy Morris, Nicki Parrott, Randy  Sandke, Antti 
Sarpila, Richard Simon, Rossano Sportiello, Dave Stone, Johnny  Varro, and (wonder 
of wonders) Bob Wilber!  In 7 days, we couldn't find a  set that we didn't 
like, but the one that will live in our memory had 3 soprano  sax - Meijers, 
Sarpila and Wilber.  Wow!
 
That makes 10 days of bliss; the 11th?  we debarked on Sunday (12/7)  and 
drove to the San Fernando Valley to the Valley Jazz Club monthly  meeting.  And 
who was the feature band? why, benevolent mediator Bob  Ringwald's Fulton 
Street JB, with an hour and a half set of beautiful dixieland,  aided by DJMLers 
Bob Williams (Wooden Nickel JB) and Paul Edgerton (also  WNJB).  What a finale 
to a great experience.
 
BTW, we have no connection with any of the groups mentioned;  we have  been 
to the last 25 San Diego fests, on 3 Jazzdagen jazz cruises, and heard  Fulton 
Street many times, but always as well pleased observers, with no part of  the 
action.  

Gene & Betty Lynch
Harbor  City, CA

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