A Few Jazz Notes

...is a jazzonian e-newsletter published weekly unless the author is somehow incapacitated. It details the thriving jazz scene in Columbus, Georgia and the surrounding Chattahoochee Valley, written exclusively by

Rusty Taylor, the jester-singer for the vocal jazz band Southern Standard Time

Salutations Fellow Jazzonian,

Greetings!... and welcome to this here weekly exercise in rhetorical calisthenics deftly disguised as a newsletter's disseminating jazz news and anecdotes about the growing jazz scene in Columbus, Georgia and the surrounding Chattahoochee Valley. It is brought to you by the words hypogeal, mediocracy, and kleptocracy:

Example: It saddens me deeply to think that the misogynistic, bigoted, supremacist, kleptocratic usurper of the presidency—who has insignificant digits on teeny tiny hands and chronic halitosis that seeps through reeking dentures—will be granted the executive safety of a hypogeal sanctuary deep within fortified mountainous caves for himself and his appointed mediocracy after he ignorantly launches nuclear warheads upon North Korea even though his treasonous malfeasance gained him the presidential appellation that garnered his unjustifiable survival of the holocaust he ignorantly precipitated.

--Anonymous

Last Week at The Loft

Columbus, GA's Weekly Home for Jazz

Last week at The Loft, Columbus State University's student jazz combos performed. The Cannonball Jazz Octet under the direction of assistant professor Bryan Canonigo got the evening started... and the octet included a violin that was so sweetly played by Elizabeth Schlender. On a personal level, it thrills me beyond understanding to witness the development of these fiery young musicians who are delving into a genre of music that is mostly underappreciated and, quite frankly, difficult. Allison Kershner improves her already formidable musical prowess as a vocalist with each passing day. Ian Morrison is the only other member of the band that I recognize from the past, and his skills are obvious to anyone who has effective listening skills, laying down the rhythms with the smoothness of melting chocolate and just as sweet sans the deleterious calories. Although new to the Chattahoochee Valley Jazz Scene, the other members of the octet need to be acknowledged; they will certainly be followed as solid musicians in the near future: Ben Gallogly, Nathaniel Moore, Dan Murray, Hezekiah Rodgers, and Wesley Shores.

Following the octet, the Schwob Jazz Quartet performed, and, of course, they nailed the performance. The quartet in its current iteration has graduate students, three-fouths of whom are internationally influenced. If you don't know them, you will. If you know them, you love them. It's as simple as that: Bryan Canonigo, from Canada on alto sax; Tommy Embrich, from Illinois on drums; Yair Ophir, from Israel on bass; and Paulo Siqueira, from Brazil on tenor sax.

I would be unconscionably remiss if I failed to praise Victoria Evans Cash for her sincere channeling of Ella Fitzgerald in her warm and spirited interpretation of “Blue Skies.” I heard Victoria sing last year with the Big Band and immediately became a fan. I am excited that I have the opportunity to witness her development because she will be special... very special.

Columbus State University is one of Columbus, Georgia's most precious gems, and Dr. Kevin Whalen continues to mold not only model musicians, but he is also guiding these students to be model citizens of our great nation in the tradition set by the jazzonian masters who preceded him. These students are destined to bring diversity, decency, and jazz music back to the forefront of our nation's consciousness, and I am very proud to witness this peaceful revolution.

Weekly Area Jams

Red Light Cafe Jazz Jam

Every Wed at 8 pm ET

I have not been to the weekly jazz jam at Red Light Cafe, but it is hosted by the Gordon Vernick Quartet, and I am a huge fan of Gordon's, so I'm planning to go soon, and when I do... Ha! I'm very likely to get excited. Fo' mo' info, click here.

Apache Cafe in Atlanta

Every Wed at 9:00 ET

Al Smith's Midtown Jam Session @Apache Cafe!  Contemporary Jazz , Soul, R&B vocalists jam Session. Featuring live band led by keyboardist Al Smith! Vocalists are invited to sign the list and jam with the band, musicians can sit in too... a must attend! Different Dj spinning on the back patio each week! SPECIAL GUEST HOST EVERY WEEK! Doors open at 9pm and list-sign up is at 9pm. Event admission, the day of, at the door, is CASH. Fo' mo' info, click here.

1048 Club in Montgomery

Every Sun at 9:30-12:30 CT

The 1048 Cafe is in Montgomery, AL. The weekly Jazz Jam led by Sam Williams, 9 pm CDT, $5 cover. I don't really know that much about it, but the 1048 has a jazz jam every Sunday from 9ish 'til whenever. Apparently the jam draws some incredible musicians. Fo' mo' info, click here.

On Thursdays at Noon, make a lunch date with our region’s finest musicians. A Little Lunch Music is an informal, come-and-go performance presented by JCSM and coordinated by musician Patrick McCurry. You can sit in and listen to the entire performance, dine in the Museum Cafe from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. CT, browse the Museum Shop or explore the galleries.

For more info, click http://jcsm.auburn.edu/event/a-little-lunch-music-fall-2017/2017-09-07/.

Jazz Association of Macon

We Promote Jazz in Macon

and Middle Georgia

Our purpose is to:

Encourage and support creation, presentation, and preservation of jazz music.

Support the creation of new audiences for jazz music.

Provide education and information about jazz.

Encourage young musicians to learn and appreciate jazz.

Develop a network among local and regional jazz advocates.

Increase awareness of jazz events and musicians in our community.

To read their blog, click here.

Area Musicians

Actually, this is a link to a page of my personal website, but it makes it much easier t maintain. It is a dynamic list of area musicians that will, hopefully, be continually updated until I can no longer do it. If you are a musician who is not listed or you are listed but with invalid info, please let me know, and I'll make the appropriate revisions. Thank you, and click here to visit the link.

High Museum of Art: Atlanta Jazz

Live jazz in the Robinson Atrium at the Atlanta High Museum of Art every 3rd Friday of the month. Fo' mo' info, click here .

On-line Radio

Video of the Week

Ella Fitzgerald is probably my favorite vocalist in the history of Everything. She sends me. If you weren't at The Loft last Friday, you missed one of the most sincere and emotional tributes to Ella when CSU student (and incredible vocalist) Victoria Evans-Cash sang "Blue Moon." It made me nostalgic for Ms. Fitzgerald. Enjoy.

The Columbus, Georgia Jazz Scene

1940 - 1985

Excerpts from

Memories of Jazz

The History of Swing and Jazz in the Columbus, Georgia Area

From 1940 — 1980... Who played... Where they played

by Gene Kocian

Memories of Jazz is written in four sections, a section of anecdotes, and an index. The first section of the book is The Dancing Styles, written from the recollections of [Columbus, GA natives] Warren Clayton, Jimmy Fuller, and Gene Kocian, who record their memories of the different music eras starting with the late 1920s through the 1970s. A photo of guitarist Warren Clayton smiles broadly from the chapter's title page.

The first section of the book, as its name strongly suggests, initially concentrates on the types of dancing during the author's lifetime beginning in the early 20s when square dancing was popular. A bit later saw the introduction of round dancing, ballroom dancing, and the two-step was the rage. In the late 20s, the Roaring Twenties of flappers with miniskirts and a libertine social acceptance of a more lax morality helped the Charleston and the Big Apple to set the dancers of the day to aggressively gyrate their twisting torsos on shuffling feet.

Dance-A-Thons ubiquitously popped up in the larger cities of the 30s, contests of attrition in which the last standing couple won cash prizes. The Jitterbug helped the youngsters of the Great Depression forget their quotidian penurious distractions to gaily dance the night away. Slowly, ballroom and Latin style dances assimilated into the nightlife. Time must've flown for these musicians because the author abruptly jumps to the late 1960s:

In the later sixties, dancers created the very modern styles of dancing that prevail to this day and seem to have little rhyme or reason, which are commonly known as disco dance. However, the older style dancing is still going very strongly and it is felt that it always will.

Part One ends rather abruptly, but it is a concise introduction of a national snapshot before the more assiduous detailing of the author's main objective: to highlight the music scene in his hometown of Columbus, Georgia. Hot damn; this is getting exciting.

Peace Through Music

Valediction

I can't imagine many people luckier than I. Celestial thaumaturgy has granted me a privileged terrestrial manifestation even though I've done nothing in this lifetime to justify the ineffable yet beneficent gift, so maybe I did something worthwhile in a previous life, or... maybe Life is simply random and capricious.

Columbus, Georgia is developing into a city with a small but loyal community of people who are blown over by jazz music, jazz history, well... we dig any and every connotation of the jazz scene; we've even created a word for it: Jazzonian.

The local jazz scene has been around for a while. The historic Liberty Theater in Columbus, Georgia was built in 1924 and has seen many internationally recognized jazz icons from Marian Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Columbus' own Ma Rainey, her protegée Bessie Smith, and the big bands of Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Fletcher Henderson. For mo' info about the Liberty Theater and its local history, click here to peruse the Columbus Jazz Society's webpage.

Of course, the local jazz scene owes illimitable laud to Dr. Paul J. Vander Gheynst, the renowned founder of Columbus State University Jazz and Director of the CSU Jazz Band for 34 years. The good doctor's legacy continues to thrill and delight. Not only does CSU boast of its Big Band, but it is also a coveted musical institution that offers learning opportunities for undergraduates to develop. Currently, CSU has two smaller combos designed to nurture and develop musical integrity: The Cannonball Jazz Octet led by teaching assistant Bryan Canonigo and the Schwob Jazz Quartet that features grad students. These two groups were the featured jazz acts for last week's jazz concert at The Loft.

Again, I am fortunate because I've been around Columbus, Georgia since 1970, so I've witnessed the growth of many students of jazz. They invariably start out eager but anxious; their deepest fears are about making horrible music. Unfortunately, unless you are a freak of nature, you will fail in your incipient years of study. Most everyone who plays jazz has suffered crimson-deep embarrassment. Fortunately, those of us who continue on the never-ending journey to create good music have had support groups to encourage our pressing on despite failure. And that is what our fine city does in aces... encourage.

Peace Through Music