[Dixielandjazz] From the Stockton CA Paper

[Stephen G Barbone]

Ever Evolving Jazz Festival Welcomes Mix

By Tony Sauro - May 27, 2011 - Stockton Record Staff Writer
Johnny Cash's plunka-plunka-plunka country music rhythms aren't  
exactly crashing the jazz-vibe party this weekend.

Their presence is merely one aspect of an ongoing effort to broaden  
the scope of - and narrow stereotypical thinking about - jazz festivals.

"Oh, gosh, I didn't even know that," pianist Joe Gilman said of the  
Cash tribute band that's performing during the four-day Sacramento  
Jazz Festival & Jubilee. "More and more jazz festivals everywhere are  
bringing all kinds of different music in. Music that someone  
interested in jazz also would be interested in. Jazz, you know, has a  
crossover interest. There's R&B and all kinds of other things."

Gilman's Capital Jazz Project can switch styles, too. Based in  
Sacramento, the quintet - Gilman, piano); Rick Lotter, drums; Henry  
Robinett, guitar; Kerry Kashiwagi, bass; and Mike McMullen, saxophone;  
- plays Gilman's modern, experimental compositions.

On Sunday, though, they'll perform music by Benny Golson -an 82-year- 
old jazz saxophone pioneer from Philadelphia - at Sacramento's  
downtown Sheraton Hotel. "Call it hard bop," said Gilman, whose group  
plays the festival for a fifth time and third year in a row.

Also known as be-bop, it's one of many grooves jazz has carved in  
becoming a major American cultural export.

Now in its 38th year, the festival began as a traditional Dixieland  
jazz marathon. The event's logo also has been slicked-up: "SacJazz  
festival&jubilee '11."

Gilman, 48, a Sacramento native, has witnessed its evolution. He  
played at the festival in a traditional jazz - trad-jazz - band as a  
student at California State University, Sacramento.

He's also accompanied vocalists Vivian Lee, Beth Duncan and Ann  
Peterson during their appearances.

"I think it was pretty similar to the way it is now," said Gilman,  
also summer-colony artistic director at University of the Pacific's  
Brubeck Institute.

"Young people are interested in the festival. To go, play and listen.  
It's a lot of fun. There are also lots of middle-aged and older folks.

"The main difference now is they've expanded into more variety.  
Progressively, it's opened up."

The stylistic spectrum of this year's 93 acts varies from "straight- 
ahead," mainstream jazz to blues, zydeco, Afrobeat, Latin, New Orleans  
jazz, R&B, soul, funk, western swing, pop and marching bands.

Tom Rigney, a Berkeley-based electric violin player and fiddler who  
specializes in Cajun, zydeco, blues and New Orleans grooves, is this  
year's festival "emperor." He'll perform with his band, Flambeau.

In addition to James Garner channeling Cash, jazz aficionados can  
expand their horizons with tributes to Santana (Rhythm Vandals) and  
Steely Dan (Steelin' Dan), classic-rock bands influenced by jazz,  
whose rhythms and spirit were incorporated in their music.

Gilman embraces a variety of styles and concepts, too.

His current album, "Americanvas," riffs on significant American  
paintings of the past 61 years.

He's also completed an as-yet-untitled CD on which he interprets the  
sketches of M.C. Escher (1898-1972), a graphic artist from The  
Netherlands.

Gilman was assisted by former Brubeck Institute student musicians on  
both recordings.

He's ready for this year's summer colony at Pacific on Aug. 7 to 12,  
where Dixieland jazz isn't part of the typical plan, either.

Meanwhile, it's back to a Memorial Day weekend work-in-progress.

"It's one of the most important cultural events that happens in  
Sacramento, if not Northern California," said Gilman, a music  
instructor at Sacramento's American River College. "Especially in  
terms of our community of artists. In general, jazz - and the people  
who play and market jazz - are trying to market it in a lot of  
different ways. Anyway you can get people to listen, understand it, be  
familiar with it and enjoy it, even if that means programming other  
types of music.

"You can't just have straight-ahead jazz or be-bop. People are  
interested in lots of different things. It requires a lot of  
thoughtfulness to put on a program like this. You see it everywhere.  
Not just here."

Of course, two or three tribute bands can't hurt.

Contact reporter Tony Sauro at (209) 546-8267 or tsauro at recordnet.com.  
Visit his blog at recordnet.com/lensblog.