[Dixielandjazz] Sacramento Jazz Jubilee this Weekend!! (that's what it is- no matter what label they put on it.)

[Justin Au]

Hello Listmates!
Better start packing your bags for Sacramento!!  I hope the name change
hasn't discouraged any of you from attending this year.  Sacramento has
been, and always will be, a Jazz Jubilee at heart.

Despite the changes that have been made to the festival, it should be noted
that the STJS has never deviated from their dedication to passing the torch
to the next generation of musicians.  Jazz education and promotion to
students have always been a priority.  I, along with many others (young and
old), learned how to play jazz by attending their monthly jazz sessions.
The STJS jazz education programs have been responsible for fostering
countless young musicians- many of whom have gone on to pursue jazz as a
professional career.  In addition to funding multiple summer jazz camps,
music lesson scholarships, school clinics and workshops, monthly jazz
sessions, and the world's first scholastic Traditional Jazz Youth Band
Festival (elementary to college), the Sacramento Music Festival has
showcased more youth bands than any other festival on the circuit.  This
year's festival is no exception.

It should also be noted that despite broadening their musical styles to
appeal to a younger audience, the festival is still retains its roots in
traditional jazz.  In fact, the "Sacramento Music Festival" still offers
more "traditional jazz" bands than any other festival on the circuit.

I'm looking forward to meeting as many of you as I can this weekend!!  My
brother's band, The Crescent Katz (made up of jazz camp alums), will be
hosting the nightly jam sessions.  I will be at most of the jams, as well
as performing with my on own band.

I play in a gypsy swing group called Red Skunk.  We are not would you might
consider your standard django "ghost" band.  We kind of have our own unique
take on the gypsy sound.  While Django songs make up a significant portion
of our repertoire, we also blend the European gypsy sound with a variety of
other influences.  Our core instrumentation resembles that of a tradition
gypsy swing band, but we also add a cornet, drums/washboard, and
occasionally a trombone to spice things up.  We have many influences, but
some of our top are Sachmo (of course), Fats Waller, Jabbo Smith, The
Reynolds Brothers.

As the typical jazz festival audience is starting to fade away, we are also
trying to appeal to a younger audience by incorporating our own sound.  In
this regard, we are very fortunate to have someone in our group who writes
quite a bit of original material for us.  Who says there's no such thing as
a traditional jazz song written after 1930 (jazz purists are prohibited
from answering :))?  If Turk Murphy wrote compositions that numerous
traditional jazz bands include in their standard repertoire - that's good
enough proof for me.

By playing a mix of our own songs, and material written before the last
great depression, we are quite successful in exposing younger people (below
age 60) to OKOM in our area.  Most of what we play is either written before
1930 or after 2006.  The balance of those two depends on the demographic of
our audience.  Also - all of our core members are alumni of the STJS jazz
camps.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, I hope to see you at one of our
sets!  We have eight of them.

-Justin