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Friday, August 8th
Saturday, August 9th “NEW ORLEANS JAZZ PARADE” (Prospective “Cake Walkin’ Babies,” attired in their Gay 90’s or “Flapper”
The SPEAKEASY JAZZ BABIES Following the opening parade, the Speakeasy Jazz Babies will start the afternoon program with two sets of hot “Dixieland” jazz, the old-time “happy” sounds of one of jazz’s oldest forms as it developed in the Mississippi Delta. The Jazz Babies’ infectious and unaffected “traditional” jazz sets the toes of even the most rhythm-challenged to tapping. The Jazz babies are: Randy Reinhart, cornet, Joe Licari, clarinet, Dick Dreiwitz, trombone, John Gill, banjo, and Barbara Dreiwitz, tuba. The Jazz Babies have appeared in the last seven Jazz Festivals, and this year there are two new instrumentalists: Randy Reinhart on cornet and John Gill on banjo. Randy Reinhart began his professional career in New York Metropolitan area. H e played his first gigs as a teenager and in 1973 became a regular substitute at Eddie Condon’s on 54th street. There, he jammed with some of the finest players on the scene including Vic Dickenson, Pee Wee Erwin, Herb Hall and drummer Connie Kay. With the touring unit, Paul Lavalle’s Band Of America, Reinhart began to double on trombone in the mid 1970s. In 1976 Randy joined the Happy Jazz Band in Texas. He also played with Bob Wilbur's band at the Jacksonville Jazz Hall. Upon his return to New York, Randy was asked to join Vince Giordano's Nighthawks. His cornet is often heard among the Bix Beiderbecke tribute orchestras on record and in concert. Randy continues to perform throughout the U.S. at jazz festivals, parties and in concert settings. Included in this list are Bob Crosby's Bobcats, Banu Gibson's New Orleans Hot Jazz, the Manhattan Rhythm Kings and Ed Polcer's All-Stars. John Gill was born in New York in 1951. His first musical recollections are of listening to the music of such artists as Hank Williams, Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley and the Beatles. His first contact with jazz came whilst browsing through his father’s record collection. Upon discovering jazz he developed a love for the older styles of this genre and other American root music forms. A fine supportive player (whether on drums or banjo), he has recorded four enjoyable sets for the Stomp Off label. He gained early experience playing with Tony Parenti and Vince Giordano in a variety of settings. In 1977 Gill he moved to San Francisco and joined Turk Murphy's band, playing drums, banjo and soprano saxophone. During 1984-85, Gill (who was still with Murphy) recorded a pair of Stomp Off sets on drums with his Original Sunset Five, a group also including some of Turk's other sidemen including pianist Ray Skjelbred.
The Jazz Babies will be followed by Babik, from Buffalo, featuring the swinging sounds of the Hot Club of Paris, which featured Stephane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt. Founded in 2005, Babik has become one of the hottest bands on the U.S. gypsy swing scene. The group performs more than 200 shows a year, and these sizzling live performances have earned them a loyal following as well as feature stories, TV appearances and several awards. Babik plays a special brand of jazz known as gypsy swing, which was created during the 1930’s by the legendary two-fingered guitarist Django Reinhardt. The style blends American big-band swing with the exotic flare of European gypsy folk songs. Taking the name of Reinhardt’s youngest son, Babik approaches this joyful music with a modern sensibility—it is not unusual to hear licks from Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd—while still respecting the history and tradition of the music. In keeping with this tradition, the group performs all of their music on acoustic instruments. The guitars, strings, and even the picks, are specially chosen to produce that unique gypsy sound! The members of Babik are Stuart Fuchs on lead guitar, Geoff Perry on violin, Josh Assad on rhythm guitar, and Kevin O’Brien on upright bass. In late 2006, the band released its debut CD, Babik, along with a concert DVD, Live at Sessions. Both became immediate number-one best sellers in the band’s home city of Buffalo, following a passionate sold-out release concert at the legendary Tralf Music Hall. Babik is currently on work on their second CD, which is being released this year. The band has also undertaken a bold new project to perform their music with symphony orchestras, beginning with a concert with The Buffalo Philharmonic in March, 2008. Working with conductor/arranger Brent Havens, Babik looks forward to bringing exciting sounds of gypsy jazz to the concert hall.
FRANK SACCI BAND The Frank Sacci Big Band, an all-time favorite in the North Country, makes its second appearance at our Festival, having played for us at our Second Annual Festival in 2001. The band has already made an appearance in Sackets Harbor this season, having opened the popular Concerts on the Waterfront series on Sunday, June 22nd. It is a rare thing that a big band can be kept together for 25 years—rarer still for it to maintain the high quality of performance that Frank has encouraged. We look forward to having the band play an important role in this year’s Festival.
After a dinner break, the Festival will continue with the contemporary jazz sounds of the Russ Kassoff Trio, featuringMartin Wind, bass, Dennis Mackrell, drums, and Catherine Dupuis, vocals. The evening will climax with the appearance of Jerry Dodgion with the Kassoff trio. Since the Sackets Harbor Jazz Festival’s inception in 2000, Russ Kassoff has been its musical director/coordinator and pianist. Over the first eight years he has brought to the Festival performers such as Catherine Dupuis, Linc Milliman, Terry Clarke, Ron Vincent, Martin Wind, Rob McConnell, Kickie Britt, Glenn Drewes, Gary Keller, Rick Cutler, Harry Allen, Joe Cohn, Bucky Pizzarelli and Ken Peplowski. Jerry Dodgion has had a long and distinguished career in New York City and around the world as an alto sax and flute player, ar ranger and composer with top big bands and smaller combos. He played lead alto sax with the legendary Thad Jones/Mel Lewis big band, which enlivened more than twenty years of Monday nights at the Village Vanguard and later became known as the “Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.” He is now lead alto with Wynton Marsalis’ Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra. Jerry hails from Richmond, California on San Francisco Bay. He gained early experience in 1950s with bay area bands of Rudy Salvini, John Coppola/Chuck Travis and Gerald Wilson as well as brief appearances with the Vernon Alley quartet which included backing Billie Holiday in 1955. Dodgion joined Benny Carter, on Gerald Wilson’s recommendation, for the opening of the “Moulin Rouge” in Las Vegas ’55 and was with the Red Norvo quintet from 1958 to 1961, which included long stints in Las Vegas at the “Sands Hotel.” He was on the road accompanying Frank Sinatra in 1959 and ’60 and toured as part of the Benny Goodman groups of ’59 through’61, which incorporated the Red Norvo quintet into Goodman’s ten-piece band (including Flip Phillips, Bill Harris and Jack Sheldon) and subsequent versions which included Zoot Sims, Carl Fontana and Charlie Shavers. Upon settling in New York in ‘61 Dodgion began a long career of associations, performing and recording with some of the foremost and diverse names in jazz, which continues to this day Bassist Martin Wind was with us in 2002, 2004 and 2007 for our Third, Fifth and Seventh annual Festivals. He has become a regular in New York’s clubs, studios, and concert halls since re-locating here from his native Germany. In 1995 he received first international recognition when he won Third Prize at the International Thelonious Monk Bass Competition in Washington, D.C. Drummer Dennis Mackrel was born, April 3, 1962. A child prodigy, he began playing the drums when he was two. He became a professional musician at the age of ten when he performed in the Anchorage Community Theater's production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.” This is Dennis Mackrel’s third appearance in Sackets Harbor. Vocalist Catherine Dupuis has made a lot of friends in the North County, and we are fortunate to be able to bring our Festival sweetheart back to entertain her many fans here. Catherine brings an expressive warmth to her singing, as well as a skilled ability to communicate the emotional content of a lyric. Her unique abilities as a performer are a culmination of her natural talent, as well as her experience and training as an actress and vocalist.
Grand Finale
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