[Dixielandjazz] Crawfish Festival and Orange County Classic Jazz Festival

[Janie McCue Lynch]

Don and Steve wrote: 

"No I didn't know about this Long Beach gig, but I WAS just down the road 
at Costa Mesa for the Orange County Classic Jazz Festival, where I saw 
among others Tom Rigney and Flambeau, a Cajun group.  The festival was 
great with many bands from "trad" to big band swing."

Don Robertson, Napa, CA

On 8/10/2010 8:06 AM, Stephen G Barbone wrote:
"Any left coasters attend this Crawfish Festival? Sounds like a fun 
 event with 1000+ attendees, cajun food, parasols and Dixieland. "

Same here....no Crawfish Festival but definitely attended the Orange County
Classic Jazz Festival.  IMHO, one of the best yet.

Connie and Larry Baker and John Diebold and their armies do a great job of
keeping the quality and attendance of this festival up at the top of the
scale.   (Actually, I think they supply the quality and the attendance
follows!)

Lots of nice "aural palate refreshers" this year.

Tom Rigney and Flambeau were new to me until the Jazzdagen cruise to Alaska
in June..love their sound and passion when playing hot...and between the
rousing numbers Tom's original ballads and waltzes provide heart-piercing
beauty.
http://www.rigomania.com/flambeau_page_html_9-02.htm

Tom Hook and the Black Dawgs were out for the first time in a few
years...always a lot of fun to see and hear them.  He did another dual piano
set with Jeff Barnhart.

Jeff and Anne Barnhart, in addition to Ivory and Gold with Danny Coots, made
a nice quartet with the Midiri brothers...Joe on clarinet and Paul on vibes
and drums.  Nice arrangements, I believe mostly by Paul.

Jeff also mixed up the two-band performance of the Fryer/ Barnhart
International Band and the Midiri Brothers....instead of both bands out
there going full blast, he changed it around several times so that different
combinations of front line / rhythm / pianist performed. 

Le Jazz Hot, from the S.F. Bay Area, gave their usual "smooth and hot"
performance, mixing it up towards the end by having Paul Mehling switch to
bass and Clint Baker pick up his horn for a few numbers. 

My biggest unexpected delight was a performance by the Jerry Krahn
Quartet....which actually turned into a Quintet with the guest appearance of
Kenny Kotwitz, accordionist from Los Angeles.  Jerry and Ike Harris are
known to me from Titan Hot Seven, but drummer Kevin Dorn, pianist Jeff
Phillips from Lakeland, FL and Kenny Kotwitz were new to me.  Wow....the
hour flew by with music that had it all...beauty, rhythm, inventiveness,
coordination...I hope this group is able to play together regularly.  

There were other little "mixtures" here and there...couldn't see all of
them, but based upon the ones we did see I'm sure they were equally good.

Another band that most hadn't heard before was from Asheville, NC, called
the Firecracker Jazz Band.  Mostly young, very energetic and VERY good. 

Paris Washboard was here, with the piano perfection of Louis Mazetier, the
mounted horizontal washboard with numerous percussion devices attached of
Stephane Seva -- plus he SINGS beautifully! -- and Alain and Daniel on
clarinet and trombone.

The circuit regulars were all in fine form, too.....and gave their
collective all for the whole darn three and a half days...Titan Hot Seven,
Titanic, High Sierra, Wally's Warehouse Waifs, Mike Henebry, Yerba Buena
Stompers, and all the rest were in fine form. 

Anyway, I didn't see a single darn crawfish except in the Seafood Chowder,
but this was one fine festival...check it out for 2011! 

Jane Lynch
Janie39 at socal.rr.com
Janiemc39 at yahoo.com