[Dixielandjazz] Byron Stripling reviewed -- Springfield Symphony Orchestra Pays Tribute to Louis Armstrong, New Orleans

[Robert Ringwald]

Springfield Symphony Orchestra Pays Tribute to Louis Armstrong, New Orleans
by Clifton Noble Jr.
Springfield (Mass.) Republican, February 16, 2014
Trumpeter Byron Stripling raised the roof of Symphony Hall Saturday evening, joining
Maestro Kevin Rhodes and the Springfield Symphony Orchestra in "Sounds of New Orleans:
A Louis Armstrong Tribute."
So hot was Stripling's trumpet that if the windows of the hall had been open, the
snow would have melted for miles around.
Strutting through a first half of traditional classics like "South Rampart Street
Parade," "Royal Garden Blues," "Saint Louis Blues," and Red Rodney's rip-snorting
"Red Arrow," Stripling also regaled the audience with hilarious comic patter and
repartee with Rhodes.
His trumpet playing is a collage of the great musicians he admires, and some of those
he has toured and played with. He has the generous sound and devil-may-care, muscular
swagger of Armstrong, the forward-looking athleticism of Buck Clayton, the whirlwind
mental storm of Dizzy Gillespie, and the stratospheric keen of Maynard Ferguson all
elegantly mashed into one nimble, golden horn.
As Armstrong was, Stripling is a consummate entertainer, projecting a genuine joy
in his interaction with the audience and the other musicians on stage.
And he can sing, too!
One of the highlights of the first half that didn't appear in the program, was a
tenderly crooned rendition of Daugherty, Reynolds and Neiburg's "I'm Confessin' (That
I Love You)," recorded by Armstrong in August 1930. Stripling also growled out a
steely "St. James Infirmary," and a sassy "Sweet Georgia Brown" before taking an
intermission break.
The influence of another of jazz great with whom he toured comes through in Stripling's
singing. His scrupulous diction and warm, honeyed, unaffected tone in ballad singing
brings to mind those qualities in the work of the late Billy Eckstine.
For the second half, Stripling turned up the heat even higher, kicking it off with
his searing account of Tiger Rag, climbing to its Everest-like conclusion to the
delight of all present.
Cab Calloway's famous "Hi-de-hi-de-hi!" echoed raucously around Symphony Hall as
the audience responded enthusiastically to "Minnie the Moocher." A pair of Thomas
"Fats" Waller's compositions, "Honeysuckle Rose" and "Ain't Misbehavin'" while they
featured appropriate articulation from Stripling were cast in rather non-Fats-like
arrangements by Jeff Tyzik, full of be-bop quotes and driving rhythms foreign to
Fats' light-fingered fun-loving approach.
During another novelty number, "Flat-Foot Floogie," Stripling rocketed off on a scat-fueled
riff on Kevin Rhodes' name that eventually turned down a few urban alleys and turned
into a hip-hop ode that seemed to please the Maestro no end.
In addition to being supported by the SSO and Rhodes, Stripling had brought along
drummer Robert Breithaupt. The superb rhythm section was completed by bassist Jeff
Levine and pianist (Umass Amherst's own) Jeff Holmes.
The evening finished with a heartfelt Armstrong tribute, including "What a Wonderful
World," "Hello, Dolly," "Mack the Knife," and "Basin Street Blues."
Stripling rewarded the enthusiastic standing ovation given to him by the 1,419 in
attendance with an unaccompanied encore of the 1940 popular song "Because of You"
by Arthur Hammerstein and Dudley Wilkinson.
-30


-Bob Ringwald K6YBV
www.ringwald.com
916/ 806-9551

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