A Night of Classic Jazz and Other Gems

Gems from the Great American Songbook, opera and operettas, and a few classic-jazz staples were in the splendid mix when The Midiri Brothers brought their quintet to Punta Gorda FL on Monday, March 13 for their first Charlotte County Jazz Society appearance.

The Midiri brothers

Paul and Joe Midiri have both serious chops and a love for the instrumental jazz tradition. Together, they imbued the music with a bright sound and connected with the audience through humorous, well-honed banter about their identical twinship.

The band this fine night included Paul - the older brother by one minute - on vibraphone, Joe on clarinet and saxophones, Jeff Phillips on piano, Jay Mueller on bass, and Patricia Dean on drums. It was night three of a brief Florida tour.

Joe Midiri

The brothers have a finely honed sound warmed by the collective brightness of their primary instruments. Paul's vibes style draws much from pioneers Lionel Hampton and Red Norvo, while Joe's clarinet playing comes straight from the Benny Goodman approach. The pair hail from the Mid-Atlantic Region. They've been a hit at classic jazz festivals across the U.S. for more than 20 years.

Their interplay and the band's swinging tempos made for a joyous night as they coursed through an interesting range of Swing-era standards. "Always" and "Poor Butterfly" (inspired by Madame Butterfly) led into a burning version of "Lady Be Good." 

Jeff Phillips

Paul Midiri shifted with ease between two and four mallets depending whether he was featured on the melody or comping with chords behind his brother's solos. Joe switched to soprano sax for a beautiful take on "September Song," which featured an elegant yet understated piano solo from Phillips. 

Patricia Dean

Whether or not intentional, then came an interesting thematic grouping of songs with "You" in the title. 

Patricia Dean, a Southwest Florida double threat on drums and vocals, was featured on the Peggy Lee hit "I Don't Know Enough About You." Phillips provided the keyboard pyrotechnics on "Yours is My Heart Alone," a Franz Lehar gem from the 1929 German operetta The Land of Smiles. It was first recorded in the U.S by Bing Crosby and later was a mega-hit for Mario Lanza. The thematic cluster, and the first set, ended with the quintet's take on Eubie Blake's nostalgic classic "Memories of You," which was popularized by Goodman and Rosemary Clooney.

After intermission, The Midiri Brothers offered more treats from a wide range of sources. Fat's Waller's classic "Honeysuckle Rose" turned into an extended improvisational jaunt, particularly for clarinet, piano and vibes. Then came "Polka Dots and Moonbeams," Frank Sinatra's first hit  when he sang with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1940. Ol' Blue Eyes stayed with the band for three years before launching his solo career.

Paul Midiri, Jay Mueller

Dean was featured on no-theatrics vocals again on "This Can't Be Love," a Great American Songbook staple by Richard Rogers and Lorenz Hart from the Shakespeare-inspired Broadway musical "The Boys From Syracuse." 

The Midiri brothers

Joe Midiri's soprano sax artistry on the Sidney Bechet ballad "Si Tu Vois Ma Mere" (If You See My Mother) was poignant moment. Bechet wrote it in 1952 after moving to Paris. The song was popularized in Woody Allen's 2011 film Midnight in Paris.  

Joe then shared his lone vocal solo of the night, a Louis Armstrong-like take on "Pennies From Heaven." His Satchmo-like singing voice is uncanny, delivered in a reverential style that triggered much applause when he was done.

The quintet closed on another instrumental high note, roaring through "After You've Gone," a 1918 popular song whose early hit performers included Armstrong, Guy Lombardo and Rudy Vallee. While more than a century old, it still finds its way onto new recordings by young jazz musicians. A staple for sure. And still a crowd pleaser.

The CCJS concert was at the Military Heritage Museum's Gulf Theater.

Jeff Phillips, Paul Midiri, Jay Mueller, Joe Midiri, Patricia Dean

Swinging effortlessly into a new concert season

It was most appropriate that clarinetist Allan Vaché began the Charlotte County Jazz Society's 2019-2020 concert season opener with the chestnut "Just Friends." He was back for his fourth CCJS appearance, and his first Port Charlotte visit since 2014. And he brought four close musical friends: his current Orlando-based rhythm section plus ace trumpeter Charlie Bertini.

Allan Vaché

The Monday, October 14 event teamed the Jim Cullum Jazz Band alumnus with Bertini, pianist Mark McKee, bassist Charlie Silva and drummer Walt Hubbard. While Bertini and Silva are no strangers to the CCJS stage, this was the first local appearance for Hubbard and McKee. 

The evening featured several Vaché concert staples with other jazz and Great American Songbook fare. It included material from the Duke Ellington repertoire, a bit of movie music, some Gershwin and Hoagy Carmichael, and a brief foray into vintage New Orleans. One concert staple, also performed in Vaché's Port Charlotte appearances in 2011 and 2014, was Antonio Carlos Jobim's "Look to the Sky." Because it is heard so infrequently, these days, Vaché does a great service by sharing this gentle bossa nova.

Charlie Bertini

Vaché's lively, wide-ranging clarinet artistry was featured on Rodgers and Hammerstein's "It Might as Well Be Spring" from the 1945 film "State Fair," which made sense. It's included on his latest recording, It Might as Well Be Swing (Arbors Jazz, 2018), teamed him with the same rhythm section.

Mark McKee

On "Tangerine" and "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans" Bertini and Vaché showed what terrific musical foils they are. They played exquisite unison melodies but also delivered solos that built on each other's ideas.

It was clear this night that for Vaché, every tune is a musical adventure unto itself. That spirit lets him spotlight each member of the band several times during a concert. In that regard, he is a most democratic bandleader.

Charlie Silva

Shifting to flugelhorn, Bertini shared a stunning version of the Carmichael ballad "The Nearness of You." Silva took spotlight honors on the early standard "Comes Love" before he and Vaché traded bass and clarinet phrases to close it out. The rhythm section dug into "Some Day My Prince Will Come." Hubbard was featured on two Ellington-associated tunes, Juan Tizol's "Perdido" and "Caravan," the concert closer.

Walt Hubbard

Together, Vaché's quintet delivered a fine evening of effortless swing. 

The concert drew an early season crowd of more than 250 to the Cultural Center of Charlotte County's William H. Wakeman III Theater in Port Charlotte, FL.

McKee, Vaché, Bertini, Silva, Hubbard

Mastery and stylistic breadth carry the night

No matter which gems brothers Peter and Will Anderson choose to explore from the very wide and deep jazz canon, the pair always delight with their technique, clever arrangements and swinging musicality.

Such was the case on Monday, February 11, when the 31-year-old identical twins performed in the Charlotte County Jazz Society’s Artist Series in Port Charlotte FL. Paris-born guitarist Felix Lemerle, a Fullbright Scholar who has worked regularly with the Andersons for two years, completed the trio.

Will and Peter Anderson

Stylistically the music was all over the map, but the Andersons embraced it and transformed the varied selections into something all their own. We’re talking vintage New Orleans, Claude Debussy’s classical masterpiece “Clair de Lune,” some movie soundtrack gems, and something from the pen of hard-bop composer Horace Silver, as well as early Duke Ellington and Fats Waller.

Felix Lemerle

Peter Anderson (the elder brother, by one hour) played tenor and soprano saxophones, and clarinet. Will Anderson (the taller brother, by one inch) played alto sax, clarinet and flute. Lemerle soloed and played rhythm guitar as the situation demanded, also tapping his fret board to provide a drum-like rhythm on occasion.

The twins are Bethesda, MD natives who studied at Juilliard and are based in New York City. They shifted with ease between instruments, sometimes doubling on the melody or handing the melody off to each other in seamless fashion.

They also supported each other’s solos with a more rhythmic role. Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine,” which became Artie Shaw’s biggest hit, was a prime example. As Will dug into the familiar melody on clarinet, Peter used his tenor sax to drop in accent notes that kept time much like a drummer or bassist.

Their version of “Clair de Lune” was unusual. The combined sound they created on tenor sax and clarinet melded into something that at times seemed like it was coming from an accordion.

Other material presented in this program included “These are a Few of My Favorite Things,” “After You’ve Gone,” “Basin Street Blues,” a teasing arrangement of “Rhapsody in Blue,” Horace Silver’s funky “The Preacher,” “Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans,” “Sweet Georgia Brown,” “Mood Indigo,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” “Moon River,” “Darn That Dream” and a burning take on Ray Noble’s “Cherokee” before closing with Louis Armstrong’s “I Can’t Give You Anything But Love.” 

Will Anderson

This was the brothers’ second Port Charlotte visit. They first performed for CCJS four years ago. At that February 9, 2015 concert, they performed “Reed Reflections,” which a good friend, New York-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Kyle Athayde, wrote for them as a symphonic piece.

Peter Anderson

This night, they shared Athayde’s "Appalachian Mountain Song." Featuring the brothers on clarinets, the complex and vivid song’s textures and rhythms sounded like it was inspired by the Appalachian Round song form. It was composed for clarinets and a 31-piece string orchestra. Lamerle took on all of the string responsibilities with his artful guitar work.

The concert at the Cultural Center of Charlotte County’s William H. Wakeman III Theater drew a crowd of more than 300.

Will Anderson, Felix Lemerle, Peter Anderson

An artful blending of two musical genres

Jazz and classical music rarely intersect. But they make interesting bedfellows when brought together by two musicians who are well at ease in both fields.

Dick Hyman and Ken Peplowski

Such was the case on Saturday, February 24 when pianist Dick Hyman and reed player Ken Peplowski joined forces with a  47-member orchestra conducted by Yakov Bergman. The "Symphony of Broadway" program at the Venice (FL) Performing Arts Center featured a wide variety of band formats..

Hyman, who turns 91 on March 8, has been a prolific pianist, organist, composer, arranger, bandleader, composer of film scores and orchestral works in his long and distinguished career. He was honored last April as a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master.

Peplowski, best known as a proponent of swinging mainstream jazz, also delves into the classical world on occasion, and has been a frequent collaborator with Hyman for many years in many contexts.

Uncommon jazz trio is spellbinding

Peter Anderson

There is a notable, and rather robust, roster of jazz-playing siblings through the years. A much leaner list of identical twins playing jazz shows that most play different instruments. That makes sense. If you are working together a lot as budding musicians, you need a variety of position players in a band.

Peter and Will Anderson are identical-twin rarities because they play the same instruments.* The saxophone- and clarinet-playing brothers brought their finely honed skills to the Charlotte County Jazz Society’s Artists Series on Monday, February 9. They performed in a non-traditional trio format with guitarist Alex Wintz.

Will Anderson

The Andersons, now 27, dig into the standard jazz songbook with virtuosic skill and an uncanny ability to carry each other’s melodies and improvisations forward. The trio format worked well because the Bethesda MD natives alternated instruments most of the night (Peter on tenor sax or clarinet, Will on alto sax, clarinet or flute). Guitarist Wintz combined the rhythm roles of drummer, bassist and pianist rolled into one, with his solid, understated playing. The Andersons’ arrangements also had the brothers taking a complementary rhythmic role behind each other’s solos.

A swinging evening for jazz clarinet and more

Allan Vaché
 

Clarinetist Allan Vaché's mainstream jazz quintet closed out the Charlotte County Jazz Society's 2013-14 concert series Monday night at the Charlotte County Cultural Center with a swinging evening of Tin Pan Alley and jazz standards.

The repertoire ranged from Cole Porter, Duke Ellington and Bob Haggart to the Benny Goodman songbook, with one brief foray to Brazil for Antonio Carlos Jobim's lovely bossa nova "Look to the Sky."

Bud Leeds' jazz quartet in Venice

Bud Leeds

Clarinetist Bud Leeds peppered Friday's Venice Art Center concert for the South County Jazz Club with tunes that became brief two- and three-song medleys. It showed interesting connections between material that was either thematic or of similar structure.  For example: "Autumn Leaves" shifted to "Lullabye of the Leaves" and then "Softly as a Morning Sunrise."

But he had a different motive for the condensations.