Friday, February 9 from 7-9 pm ET, The Loft features Southern Standard Time once again.

Rusty Taylor (vocalist) and Taylor Pierce (guitar) will initiate the evening's music with a couple vocal tunes, quite possibly "I Get Along Without You Very Well (Except Sometimes)" and either "Devil May Care" or "Tangerine." Jeff Smith (bass) and Mark Parker (drums) will then join in on the fun and the quartet will play the kind of music that inspires poets to dream, dancers to dance, and procrastinators to take lengthy naps. Obviously, I am excited. Each time I get on stage to sing, especially with such accomplished musical accompaniment, my heart expands to fill the Universe. If you are in the neighborhood, come on out and hear us. The venue is the grooviest in the city; the staff are wonderful; and you can hear the best live jazz music around. It's more fun than a pen full of puppies.

Upcoming Schedule

Feb 2 - Solar Quintet reunion and CD release party

Feb 9 - Southern Standard Time featuring vocalist Rusty Taylor

Feb 16 - Impressions featuring Nick Johnson on sax

Feb 23 -  Reggie Sampson and Friend

Last Friday witnessed Solar Quintet's return to The Loft's stage, and it was a CD Release Party! Solar Clock can be purchased by clicking on the CD cover link below (along with their debut recording Simply Said). Jan Hyatt writes very perceptively:

In this music Solar Quintet has been able to successfully advance their reach into the general culture in ways that major innovators of each generation are uniquely called upon to do. From the percussive opening composition, “La Jolla”, to the last note of the last track, “Equation”, this effort sets Solar Quintet apart from other groups as it contributes new meaning to the world of original fusion works. 

The melodic “Summer Dance” with it’s compound meter creates the lilt expected from the title while these players join together in a joyful celebration. With each offering the improvisers honor the tune, respond to each other as accompanists as well as soloists, and have each idea weigh in with a sense of inevitable direction and meaning. This serves as a reminder of just how wonderful jazz can be for the human mind and spirit! 

Tune after tune you will find delight in this album as these talented, musically ambitious gentlemen carry you on a musical journey. The world becomes a listening place when Solar Quintet begins to play!

– Jan Hyatt

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

[NOTE: I found this book at Judybug's Books, a quaint bookstore on the 1000 block of Broadway in downtown Columbus, Georgia. It's a book about the jazz history of Columbus, Georgia from the 1940s to the 1980s. It is my intention to highlight interesting passages from the book in my weekly jazzonian newsletter. Since this book's publishing date, Columbus, Georgia and surrounding area has seen a slow and steady increase in the interest of jazz, beginning with the establishment of the Jazz Studies curriculum at Columbus State University (formerly Columbus College) under the direction of Dr. Paul Vander Gheynst to the creation of the Columbus Jazz Society in the mid-1980s-CSU's Schwob Jazz Orchestra and combos are currently under the direction of Dr. Kevin Whalen and they are garnering national recognition. The Loft, in downtown Columbus, Georgia, sponsors a weekly jazz concert, and there are a few area jazz jams sprinkled throughout the Chattahoochee Valley and beyond. Jazz influence is experiencing a renaissance. This book, however, is a small, personal jazz reflection from the experiences of Gene Kocian who wrote that, for young jazz enthusiasts, his words are a "heretofore unrecognized facet of Columbus' musical culture... [our] roots!" Enjoy]

From the book's back cover:

This book is living proof that jazz music is alive and well here in the Chattahoochee Valley... it always has been... particularly from the late 30s to the early 80s. Actually, it's still going relatively strong, considering the fact that the onslaught of both modern jazz and "rock and roll" (from the 50s on) damn nearly did it in.

This book deals with the early styles of swing music or jazz in the Columbus, Georgia area... from the Gertie Handy and Edgar White ragtime piano styles... to the Gene Kocian Dixieland groups... to the early big band sounds of once-popular Suzie Freeman Band, Dean Hudson, Spot Rivers (the area's only black big band), Buddy Bair... to the many little combos in all the nightspots... then to the more contemporary sounds of the newer small groups of the 60s and 70s... and the Harry James, Benny Goodman, Miller, Dorsey, and Count Basie styles, as performed by Jimmy Fuller's band all the way from the 40s to the 80s.

Other favorite outstanding area performers are spotlighted, including: Jack and Merle Garrett, Tom Hipps, the Mullin Brothers, the Abstracts, Del Harvey, Lou Vallee, and more... plus all the very capable "side-men"... many, who were, and still are, outstanding musicians capable of playing great world-class jazz with any big-name anywhere!

Gene Kocian, Warren Clayton, Jimmy Fuller, and John Suhr all know and have performed with most of the musicians so carefully listed and pictured in this book. Warren, a skilled veteran guitarist who thrived in area bands and clubs of the mid-30s to early 40s... from that point, both Gene and Jimmy created and led the area's biggest bands, playing at THE important social events and shows... then in the mid-50s came a then-young "Johnny" Suhr who bridged the generations by performing with most of the well-known area musicians (including 20 years with Fuller's Cavaliers band), fill-in stints with the Garretts, Handley, Kocian, Hipps, and Vallee, plus actively working with other young musicians and groups.

Gene Kocian paid his dues by performing in nearly all the area clubs during World War II... then with The Georgians... then forming his own fine group, The Gene Kocian Orchestra. This 7- to 9-piece group was really super-tight, loaded with top area talent and their specialty was highly energetic Dixieland arrangements... you wouldn't hear any better out of the French Quarter itself, and dancing crowds of all ages loved 'em!

Fuller had a big band in college, played briefly with Les Brown, returned to Columbus [Georgia] in the early 40s and formed a 10-piece Southern Cavaliers (later to be called The Cavaliers), styled in the Goodman/James/Miller mode. By 1954, as Suhr and others joined the group, it grew to 15 pieces and the style evolved to Dorsey/Basie/May. The band spanned a period of over 45 years before it disbanded, and through the years over 60 highly proficient area musicians performed with it.*

HEY! This isn't all history!! At date of publication many of the people in this book are still working! Small jazz and swing groups continue to fill the demand for a returning interest in ballroom dance music. For Columbus area dancers, this is the book that puts the names with the faces you've seen through the years... for young jazz-oriented musicians, this is a heretofore unrecognized facet of Columbus' musical culture... your roots!

_________________________

* The Cavaliers are still extant and is currently under the direction of Jim Evans after Dr. George Corridino retired. Obviously, I'll have to do more research as time allows. If any of you dear readers know the history of The Cavaliers, please let me know, and I'll disseminate the knowledge.

The next time you go see a live musical group, check out the stage. Does it have a wheelchair ramp leading from the audience to the stage or are their steps? Is there a wheelchair ramp backstage? Is there handicapped parking where the performers load and unload? Chances are that the venue doesn’t provide these accommodations. It’s like this: my biggest challenge as a quadriplegic jazz vocalist is finding accessible stages on which to perform. I was once raised up to a five-foot high stage using a forklift and a wooden palette because the stage was not wheelchair accessible. Fortunately, I didn’t die. Point is that there are few wheelchair accessible stages; otherwise, I’d sing much more often.

It’s easy to see why this isn’t a mainstream problem: there are few “physically challenged” performers, but that’s merely an excuse encouraged by indifference. We handicapped performers exist and are eager to share our dreams with fans who dig what we do. But why are we unconsciously ignored? That’s easy: Being unable to perform even the most rudimentary acts of daily living is a major downer; the wheelchair, quite frankly, is a symbol of lost hope. Let’s face it; it’s a marketing problem, and this is where you come in to save the day.

Physical handicaps are wrapped in lugubrious imagery, but not every moment of life in a wheelchair is steeped in mournful decay. Believe it or not, I laugh every day… some days more than others, but if life were perfect, I, for one, would take a bite of forbidden fruit to find some excitement from the decay of entropy (the hypothetical tendency for all matter and energy in the universe to evolve toward a state of inert uniformity). What I’m trying so desperately to connote here is the fact that having a physical challenge can, at times, be fun and inspirational. What we need is positive imagery, and here’s where I ask for a favor from you, dear reader, and it has to do with social media, more specifically, using the ubiquitous #hashtag: will you help by coming up with a #hashtag meme that has positive connotations for the handicapped and send it to me. This could be fun. Maybe I can come up with prizes for creative contributions. Regardless, this could be the beginning of a social movement that witnesses an outcry of creative energy by talented people who have difficulty overcoming the obstacles that are hidden from people who can hop out of bed running full tilt. By the way, I’ve come up with a possible #hashtag meme that might work: #FantastAbility. What do you think?

The gauntlet has been dropped. Do you accept the challenge? Please reply to this email with as many suggestions as you want, and challenge your friends as well. Let’s see if we can extend this conversation internationally. (Actually, when you send in your suggestions, include the name of your hometown city. We’ll see how far this request goes.) Let’s make the wheelchair a symbol of fun… or grace… or intelligence… or, dare I say it? Let’s make the wheelchair Sexy!

Make Concert Stages Wheelchair Accessible

The Eighth and Rail in historical downtown Opelika, Alabama is the venue for a wildly groovy weekly jazz jam as hosted by the Jane Drake Jazz Band. It's a cozy celebration of life that has become a buzzing collection of jazz-loving fanatics gathered together in a coterie of peaceful, fun-loving positive energy. I am downright proud as a peacock with enhanced LED-flashing feathers to participate in the jam on a regular basis, and I really love it! Proprietor Mike Patterson makes the wonderful sushi and Miss Tiffany keeps the affable atmosphere at a lovely level of emotive satisfaction. Plus... they serve an awesome cheesecake that'll make you wanna slap yourself so hard as to tell horrific knock-knock jokes to mimes. No lie. We have really talented musicians come in from the bi-state area: Auburn, Montgomery, Tuskegee, Columbus, LaGrange, Fort Valley, et al. The jam begins at 7 pm and ends at 10 pm CT. Hopefully, I'll see you there.

Eighth and Rail Website

Venkman's is a nightclub in Atlanta, a venue that Joe Gransden uses for his weekly jazz jam. This is where the Who's Who of the Atlanta Jazz Scene come together to dazzle us mortals. It's free and starts at 8 pm ET. Fo' mo' info, click link below. I've participated in this jam a couple of times, and I love it as well. Joe Gransden always welcomes me with a smile that will melt antarctic glaciers in the middle of winter, which, oddly enough, is during June through August... when it's so hot and humid in middle Georgia that my toenails sweat. Nevertheless, Joe's band often includes keyboardist Kenny Banks (sometimes Kevin Bales), drummer Chris Burroughs and bassist Craig Shaw, and these cats kick it. When I find the transportation, I'm going.

Venkman's Website