[Dixielandjazz] This Year's Elkhart Jazz Festival

[Hal Vickery]

As many of you know, I try to get there every year.  Last year surgery less than two weeks before the festival began prevented my attending, but this year it happens to follow my son's wedding by a week, so the old man is treating him and my future daughter-in-law to tickets as a wedding present.  (The bad news for them is that the old man is tagging along with them.) 

The management of the festival has gone out of their way the past few years to reduce mix the traditional jazz presence with more mainstream jazz, one of the more interesting features of the festival in its earlier years.  I won't go into a complete listing, but some of the musicians more associated with OKOM (and maybe a little of MKOM in a few cases) are:

John Sheridan, Johnny Varro, John Bany, Howard Alden, Marty Grosz, Bucky Pizzarelli, Vince Giordano, Ken Peplowski, Allan Vache, Bill and John Allred, Dan Barrett, Jon-Erik Kelso, Warren Vache, Joe Ascione, Charlie Braugham, Ed Metz, Jr., and Butch Miles.

A couple of bands I'm interested in catching are "Jeff Green's International Jazz & Ragtime All Stars," the Red Rose Ragtime Jazz Band, John Sheridan's Dream Band, and Yoshimi and Carolina Shout.  I heard the last of these bands a couple of years ago and really enjoyed them.  

One band that is absent that I really enjoy is (are?) Bob Crosby's Bob Cats.  I met Ed Metz a few years ago at Elkhart and I'd love to see him and the band again there.  

Elkhart is known for it's "mix and match" sets that sometimes lead to some interesting combinations of players.  They've posted their schedule and the complete list of musicians participating this year, so I'll leave you with their web site where you can check that stuff out:  www.elkhartjazzfestival.com<http://www.elkhartjazzfestival.com/> is the address.

Hal Vickery