The popularity of a 16-piece big band, performing at Sandi Pointe the first Monday of each month, may have exceeded anyone’s expectations.
Friends since their college days in the mid-1970s, Ed Vezinho and Jim Ward hatched the idea for a monthly big-band night in Somers Point based on the success of a similar concept in their hometown of Syracuse, N.Y.
“Jimmy got the idea from a band that does one Wednesday a month in Syracuse, where we’re from, and we thought we’d try to make it happen here,” says Vezinho, a woodwind specialist and co-leader with trumpeter Ward of the 16-piece Ed Vezinho/Jim Ward Big Band.
Nick Regine, president of the Somers Point Jazz Society (SPJS), recommended as a venue Sandi Pointe Coastal Bistro, where the SPJS has hosted several events since owners Dan and Sandi Anderson took over what was Mac’s Restaurant in 2009. Big Band Monday began in August 2010, often packing Sandi Pointe’s spacious banquet room from 7-10pm on the first Monday of each month.
“We haven’t had a disappointing month yet, and Dan and Sandi have been fantastic,” says Vezinho. “They’ve gone above and beyond anything we could ask them to do, and the audience has been terrific. It’s been a lot of fun. We couldn’t do it without the support of the community and without the help of Dan and Sandi. They’ve really championed the cause of jazz music in the Somers Point community.”
The SPJS co-sponsors the event and bankrolls the cost of a special guest joining the big band each month, supplemented by a $5 per-person cover at the door. This Monday, Feb. 6, the special guest will be trumpeter Matt Gallagher doing a tribute to the late Maynard Ferguson.
“That should be a lot of fun,” says Vezinho. “Matt’s a real great trumpet player, and we have some pretty decent trumpet players ourselves [four]. I told Matt it’s going to be like a trumpet orgy.”
The true litmus test of Big Band Monday was when it coincided with inclement weather, but the difference in attendance when that occurred was negligible.
“We had a couple of bad weather months where the numbers were down a little bit, but I don’t think we’ve done a Monday night where there’s been less than 125 people in that room,” says Dan Anderson. “We look forward to it each month. I mean, I really get excited when I know the big band’s coming. I would challenge anyone, anywhere to give me a better five-dollar value.”
The Mulgrew Miller Trio is one of this year’s headlining acts at the 15th annual Somers Point Jazz Society Jazz @ the Point Festival, which runs Thursday through Sunday, March 8-11. Miller’s trio performs two sets (8 and 10pm) Friday, March 9, in the banquet room of Sandi Pointe Coastal Bistro (see sidebar for details).
In its first three years, the SPJS Benefit and Silent Auction has raised between $4,000 and $5,000 annually based on a $20-per-person donation, and the silent-auction sale of items donated by the community. This year’s donations include several jazz-oriented pieces of artwork.
For one day — Sunday, Sept. 18 — the Asbury United Methodist Church in Atlantic City, home of the South Jersey Jazz Vespers, will be transformed into the bygone Club Harlem as a tribute to a name nearly as legendary as the club itself. Chris Columbo (1902-2002) was a jazz drummer who led the Club Harlem orchestra for 34 years, right up until the club closed its Kentucky Avenue doors forever in 1978
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At one time Atlantic City was a must-stop destination among the greatest names in the genre of jazz music, and a strong correlation exists between the city and the DeFrancesco surname. But Joey DeFrancesco, who has been hailed as one of the greatest jazz organists of all time, has never before performed in A.C. as a professional musician.
The Somers Point Jazz Society has been blessed with the support of some of southern New Jersey's best jazz artists even as they support jazz in southern New Jersey.
Despite the fact that the Los Angeles Times named him “one of the top jazz pianists in the world” and Jazz Weekly hailed him as “the most lyrical piano player of our time,” outside of mainly jazz-music circles, Kenny Barron is not a household name.
The familiar sound of sizzling summer jazz along that famous Atlantic City Boardwalk stretch from Missouri to Ohio avenues is back again. The 10th annual Jazz on the Beach Series kicks off Thursday e...
The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey's first in the four-program Monday Night Jazz and Blues Series could hardly begin on a more distinguished note, as eminent South Philly-born jazz guitarist ...
The Jersey Shore Jazz Vespers step away from their usual venue this weekend, as the musical group performs at Dante Hall in Atlantic City. Formed in 1988 by the Rev. Clancy Wilson, the band developed...
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