[Dixielandjazz] Hello again

[vaxtrpts at aol.com]

Hello everyone.  
It has been a long time since I was on this list, but thanks to Bob Ringwald and Bob Romans for convincing me to come back.  I have never lost my feelings for good traditional jazz, even though I have not been active on the trad jazz circuit.  (Not my choice by the way - maybe more on that later.)  
Lots of changes in my life since I left this list.  Peggy and I now live in Prescott, Arizona - up in the mountains at 5000 feet.  We LOVE it here!  She retired 2 1/2 years ago after being a middle school band director for 32 years and is one of the "happiest retirees" I have ever seen.  She is at the gym six days a week and is actually teaching spin classes.
I am still on the road about five months a year, doing clinics and leading the Stan Kenton Alumni Band.  
I am also director of a very successful small festival here in Prescott, called the Prescott Jazz Summit.  We are in our twelfth year and in 2012 we produced 30 music events besides the festival weekend which happens the last week in August before Labor Day Weekend.  
One of our successful events is a once a month New Orleans Jazz Brunch at the Prescott Steak House - a GREAT restaurant.  They actually do a full New Orleans menu for the brunch and my Great American Jazz Band plays.  
Our festival has been pretty much "mainstream" jazz, with such luninaries as:  Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, Dave Pell, Lennie Niehaus, Marvin Stamm, Carl Saunders, Bob Florence, Toni Tennille, Dennis Rowland, Rusty Higgins, and many others performing.  We have added a trad jazz component this year, with my Great American Jazz Band and The Bad Cactus Brass Band from Phoenix performing to very enthusiastic audiences.  If you haven't heard of Bad Cactus - they are wonderful.  They are a New Orleans Street Band in the best sense of the phrase.  Really fun - and mostly very young musicians.
I look forward to hearing about what is going on in the tradional jazz world these days.

Mike Vax
Friends of Big Band Jazz, Prescott Jazz Summit, 
Stan Kenton Alumni Band
www.mikevax.net
www.bigbandjazz.net
www.prescottjazz.com
www.getzen.com