Highlighted by an annual four-day festival in Somers Point, there's lots of gigs going down that jazz cats can dig
The Black Magic Swing Band
If the popularity of jazz as a musical genre ever waned in southern New Jersey, it would certainly seem to be back on the upswing today. Some venues offer live jazz on a regular basis, such as Steve & Cookie's on Amherst Avenue in Margate, and there are also a number of outstanding special events going on now and in the not-too-distant future.
Foremost on the list is the 11th annual Jazz @ The Point festival, featuring 11 bands jamming at various Somers Point sites from March 5-8. Many will be appearing at the festival for the first time, such as noted guitarist Dave Stryker and his jazz organ trio (two sets Friday at Gregory's, 10pm and 1am), Grammy award-winning Latin jazz quartet Brian Lynch and the Spheres of Influence (Saturday at The Inlet, 8 and 10pm), the Steve Giordano Spacetet (Saturday at Gregory's, 10pm and 1am) and Joe Magnarelli Quartet (Sunday at Gregory's, 2 and 4pm). Others are back by popular demand, including The Magnificent 7 of South Jersey (Thursday at Stumpo's, 7-10pm), featuring saxophonists Michael Pedicin and John Guida, and trumpeters Joe Breidenstine and Bob Furguson, who will be showcasing their new CD Full View.
"We have a winter series, a summer series, educational events and concerts throughout the year, but more work goes into putting this [Jazz @ The Point] festival together than any single event," says Nick Regine, president the Somers Point Jazz Society (SPJS), the festival producer. "Proceeds from this event benefit the music and creative arts programs in the local schools, and we're very pleased and proud to announce that over the last four years we've contributed almost $30,000 for this purpose."
Tickets to the entire festival -- which began as a one-day event and gradually expanded into four days -- are $50 ($40 for SPJS members), and can be ordered by calling 927-6677 or visiting www.spjazz.org. On March 15, the SPJS will host a presentation called "After the Big Bands -- Bop, Cool, Modern," which is the third part in the SPJS's New Jersey Evolution of Jazz Series and hosted by Denis DiBlasio, director of the jazz program at Rowan University, saxophonist, and former musical director of legendary trumpeter Maynard Ferguson.
The Big Band sound is what the 17-piece Black Magic Swing Band recreates almost exclusively, and will be performing Friday, March 13, at Dante Hall in Atlantic City. Tickets are $15 and can be ordered by calling 344-8877, or visiting www.dantehall.org.
The Black Magic Swing Band is under the direction of Denise Black, a music historian whose late husband, Howard Reynolds, was for 20 years the bandleader at a famous South Philadelphia entertainment complex called Palumbo's, and the longtime personal bandleader for Cozy Morley.
"The Big Band era started in 1936 and really hit its stride in 1938-'39," says Black, who is in the process of organizing a non-profit organization similar to the SPJS called the Atlantic City Jazz Club. "The Big Band sound involves melodies that are arranged and performed exactly as they are written on a chart or music sheet. Progressive or modern jazz is much more improvisational."
As part of its ongoing tribute to Black History Month, Dante Hall will have a special guest visit during the March 13 performance from Joya Sherrill, an 81-year-old jazz vocalist who toured with genre luminaries Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. Of the 18 songs the Black Magic Swing Band will play during its 90-minute appearance, several will be numbers arranged by notorious African-American bandleaders Fletcher Henderson and Blanche Calloway (older sister of jazz legend Cab Calloway), or written by composers Edgar Sampson and Joe Garland.
"The songs 'Stomping at the Savoy' and 'Don't Be That Way' are songs that made Benny Goodman fly to the top, but they were written by Edgar Sampson," says Black. "And 'In the Mood,' Glenn Miller's keynote song, was written by a man from Hackensack named Joe Garland. The impact black bandleaders and composers such as these and others had on the Big Band era is monumental."
On April 17-19, the Cape May Jazz Festival will be taking place for the 31st year, and will feature a tribute to Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughn, two of the top names from the later Big Band sounds of the 1940s and '50s. An all-weekend (8pm Friday through 4pm Sunday) pass to 18 events is available for $150, and free transportation service will run every 10 minutes between Cape May venues. See www.capemayjazz.org or call 884-7277.
The Mulgrew Miller Trio and Jimmy Cobb's Mob headline this year's 15th annual Cape Bank Jazz @ The Point Festival in March.
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