Bridgetown returns to Duff’s Garage this Saturday for a night of swing.  It’s always a pleasure to play in this converted garage, it has a great down-home vibe that fits the music very well and the dance floor generally ensures a healthy population of swing dancers, who always bring the energy in a serious way!

Kevin Van Geem will be joining us on drums for this one as Scott will be out of town.  I am very excited about this as I sort of dread drumming in public, and am also excited and a bit nervous to try to fill Scott’s shoes in the stride department, but I think it will be a fun time and as raucous as always.  Hope we can pack it out!

poster by tinylittlehammers.com

Recent conversations with Scott Kennedy (stride pianist extraordinaire from Bridgetown) and Doug Sammons (Bridgetown’s guitarist and the Serenaders’ bandleader) have centered around how extremely hip, rebellious, innovative, and energetic this music was in the 1920′s and 30′s and how unfortunate it is that almost a whole generation of both musicians and non-musicians see it as some sort of historical relic only played by dogmatic preservationists and old fuddy-duddies.  So both of these bands are more or less out to change that perception by attempting to imbue “traditional jazz” or “old-time jazz” or whatever you want to call it with its original spirit and energy.

As much as I am a modernist in some sense, I can’t help but feel that it is also an important facet of my musical life to be a steadfast proponent of the value of traditional jazz without being overly dogmatic – so often in the course of my musical education the music of the 1920′s and 30′s was presented as though it was just some bland history (with notable exceptions of course).  There seems to be a perception among both musicians and non-musicians, promulgated by a certain type of commonly performed “Dixieland”, that all music from that era is indeed bland and uninspired.  Nothing could be further from the truth, in my opinion.  The musicians of that era were charting unknown territory far more than almost any jazz musicians have since, and they were as far ahead of the other popular music of their day as Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” was ahead of its contemporaries.

Let’s consider “Maple Leaf Rag” performed in its original version by Joshua Rifkin, then in Jelly Roll Morton’s brilliant transformation, and finally in a completely off-the-wall performance by Sidney Bechet, whose instrument is nearly blown to pieces during his last chorus (click to listen):

Joshua Rifkin – Maple Leaf Rag

Jelly Roll Morton – Maple Leaf Rag

Sidney Bechet – Maple Leaf Rag

Or, from a slightly different perspective, the white cornetist Bix Beiderbecke with one of the premier dance bands (read: 20′s pop) of the day, the Paul Whiteman Orchestra, playing “Dardanella” (at least Bix brings in a tiny glimmer of hope to this one), versus Bix with his own small group playing “Riverboat Shuffle” (make sure to make it to the last chorus!):

Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra – Dardanella

Bix Beiderbecke – Riverboat Shuffle

Now I will acknowledge that it is difficult and indeed a bit strange to rail against dogma and preservationism while at the same time performing a style of music which has long since evolved into something else.  However, what we are trying to accomplish with Bridgetown is perhaps slightly more multifaceted than simple preservationism or serving as our own amusingly anachronistic version of a “cover band.”  The excitement, drive, and rebelliousness manifest in the recordings of the great musicians of the 20′s is undeniably compelling and to us exudes a timeless energy and good spirit.  Of course we imbue it with our own sensibilities, techniques, and modern influences and indeed are more than willing to both acknowledge and experiment with those contemporary elements (thus we are manifestly not a “preservationist” band).  At the same time, our focus remains on capturing the “rebellious, hip, high energy, hard-driving, untamed, unpredictable and unapologetically joyous” spirit of the music (in the words of Scott Kennedy).

This post also reminds me of my attempt to initiate a series of blog posts on Jazz Pioneers back in 2009, which unfortunately was short-lived.  Maybe I ought to take it back up again!  Meanwhile the Morton one contains some more thoughts on this very topic as well as some examples of his own evolution as a pianist: “Jazz Pioneers #1 – Jelly Roll Morton”

And of course the full details for the Jimmy Mak’s show this Friday (where this all started) are over at the “Events” page as well as at the Bridgetown Sextet Website!

Well I’ve been a bit absent from the internet of late, partially due to nice weather and partially due to various trips and a typically nutso schedule in general.  However, I’m back and ready to type, as it were, armed with some great upcoming shows for the rest of the summer and into the fall, as well as some more Post-Colonial African Grooves of the Week (starting up again on Friday), the reprise of some more thoughts on Morton and other jazz pioneers, and more.

Speaking of Morton, my first big show this summer (yes, here in Portland the sun has only recently come out for good!) is a double-bill I’ve been looking forward to for some time, featuring my old-timey band the Bridgetown Sextet and the Midnight Serenaders,  one of my favorite bands of any genre in Portland, at Jimmy Mak’s, Portland’s classiest jazz club, this Saturday night!

I don’t always mention Bridgetown stuff on this blog, but it has really turned from sort of a fun side-hobby band into one of my favorite projects of late.  My good friend of many many years Scott Kennedy and I started the group a couple of years ago after a long history with the style.  We met in 5th grade, at which point I was a nerdy classical pianist and he knew nothing about music.  Several years later, we both began to develop an interest in ragtime and early jazz, and around that time I decided to teach myself trumpet and we both picked up some drumming from my high school band teacher after school.  Meanwhile, I began moving from classical to jazz piano and Scott decided to teach himself piano from scratch, starting out rather amazingly with the Maple Leaf Rag, hardly the world’s easiest piece of music.

After many years of blundering through attempts to play as a duo and occasionally add other musicians, Scott and I found ourselves back in Portland after college, and decided to put this group together.  We figured that we would just call the best musicians in the style who we could find in town and see if they would do it, and miraculously they all said yes!  We’ve made a very strong effort to play the music in a fresh and energetic style reminiscent of the original vibe of the music, rather than in any sort of “preservationist” manner, and I feel that we’ve developed a uniquely exciting way of approaching the repertoire, a sentiment which, fortunately for us, has been echoed by Portland’s vibrant swing dance community!

So, all in all, we’re excited to bring the old-time stomp down to Jimmy Mak’s on Saturday and of course to share the bill with the Serenaders, who have really been instrumental in bringing attention to old-time jazz and swing in Portland over the past 5 years.  We were recently in the studio recording the first half of a new album, so here are some excerpts from those tracks to whet your appetite for the show (click to listen):

King Porter Stomp

Who’s Sorry Now

Buddy Bolden’s Blues

I’m Gonna Stomp Mr. Henry Lee

Our first album, “Authentic Old-Time Jazz and Swing” is available over at Bandcamp, you can check it out below and click on the album art to get there!

And I would be amiss not to finish by listing the personnel who make this whole thing happen.

Bridgetown Sextet:
Scott Kennedy – piano, drums
Andrew Oliver – cornet, drums, piano
Doug Sammons – guitar, vocals
David Evans – clarinet, tenor sax
John Moak – trombone (on recordings linked above)
Dave Bryan – trombone (currently in the band)
Eric Gruber, bass