[Dixielandjazz] Marty Grosz And The Hot Winds

[Stephen G Barbone]

Just returned from a Tri State Jazz Society Concert featuring Marty  
Grosz and the How Winds. . . . WOW!!!!!

Band members are Marty Grosz, Guitar; Vince Giordano Tuba, Double Bass  
& Bass Sax, etc; Dan Block reeds (4 or so) and Scott Robinson, reeds,  
cornet etc.  It was a sublime experience. It was an incredible show by  
4 consummate professionals. If you ever get within 200 miles of this  
group, go see them.

If you see them, sit up close and personal  to catch all the nuances  
of their interplay. One caveat. If you insist on continuous music with  
not chatter between tunes, beware. Marty introduces each tune with a  
humorous anecdote. .Grosz often broke up the house with humorous  
patter song backgrounds, the best being a five minute description of  
the aging Hussar who was now relegated to working in a dance hall as  
"Just A Gigolo", closely followed by singing Mississippi Mud in German.

Scott and Dan were just superb with duets and solos on various reed  
instruments (7 or 8 between them) including "Creole Love Song" voiced  
with alto and bass clarinet.

And Vince dazzled with his quick switches between Tuba and Bass, or  
Bass Sax and Bass, or Bass Sax and Tuba. His solos, especially bass  
sax, were superb and his clipped bow strokes during some tunes were a  
lesson on how the bass players in the early 1900s bowed the bottom  
notes.

Enjoyed talking with all of them about the music.  They are very  
accessible.

Also enjoyed talking about the Business side of OKOM with Vince who  
has it all together in that regard.

Great show, by great musicians who had the entire audience eating out  
of their hands.

They are working with Arbors on a CD. Don't miss it when it comes out.

Cheers,
Steve Barbone

PS to Dave Robinson. If you are listening, Scott says hello, calling  
you his best buddy. No sibling rivalry. <grin>

PPS: On one of the chat lists to which I subscribe, (don't remember  
which one)  someone said he wasn't sure if Scott Robinson was a  
reading musician or not.  Scott reads his butt off, always has, from  
childhood on. And this group debuted some songs just charted by Grosz  
which required some hellacious sight reading.