Johnny Varro's Classic Swing Admiration Society

Pianist Johnny Varro cut his musical teeth on the classic swing side of jazz in the late 1940s, working over the next few decades with some of its masters. They included Eddie Condon, Wild Bill Davison, Bobby Hackett, Coleman Hawkins and Pee Wee Russell, among many others.  

Johnny Varro

At age 89, Varro remains one of the sub-genre's most fervent ambassadors. He brought his take on the music back to Port Charlotte FL on Monday, November 11, sneaking a few lesser-heard gems into a familiar repertoire for the Florida edition of his Swing 7 band. This was the band's fourth Charlotte County Jazz Society appearance in eight years, and it include a couple of notable personnel changes.

Randy Sandke

Long-time sidemen Jeff Lego (trombone), Eddie Metz Jr. (drums), Mark Neuenschwander (bass) and Rodney Rojas (tenor sax) were joined by Randy Sandke on trumpet and Pete BarenBregge on alto sax and clarinet. Sandke, a fixture in Varro's New York-based Swing 7 unit, moved to Venice last year. BarenBregge, longtime reed player and former musical director of the Washington DC-based Airmen of Note, also calls Venice home now. He was subbing for the night and fit in seamlessly, sight-reading Varro's book for the first time and adding fine solos on both alto and clarinet.

A two-phase classic jazz journey

Trombonist Bill Allred and his Classic Jazz Band brought their Charlotte County Jazz Society audience on a musical journey, on Monday, November 12, that explored music rooted in New Orleans, moved up the Mississippi River, and then over the highways to dig into the big band phenomenon that took the country by storm starting in the 1930s.



Bill Allred

Terry Myers

In its fourth visit to the CCJS concert series, Allred's band included reed player Terry Myers, trumpeters Charlie Bertini and Randy Sandke and trombonist Corey Paul, pianist Randy Morris, bassist Jay Mueller and drummer Eddie Metz Jr. It was the Port Charlotte debut for Paul and Sandke. Long a fixture on the New York mainstream jazz scene, Sandke recently moved to Venice.

Bud Leeds goes Bob-Bob-Bobbying along

Clarinetist Bud Leeds was in fine company - and good spirits - for the South County Jazz Club's first concert of the 2017-2018 season on Monday, November 20.

Bud Leeds

His quartet included multi-instrumentalist Bob MacInnis, Bob Leary on banjo, rhythm guitar and occasional vocals, and piano marvel Bobby van Deusen. (Leeds could have named the band Three Bobs and a Bud.) 

Together, they delved deeply into ragtime, Louis Armstrong fare and other classic jazz staples.The free-and-easy repertoire included "Struttin' With Some Barbecue," cornetist Wild Bill Davison's theme song "I Never Knew," "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?," "Waiting for the Robert E. Lee," Bix Beiderbecke's "Singin' the Blues," Scott Joplin's "Rose Leaf Blues," and "Back Home in Indiana," among others.

Freshening classic jazz

Trombonist Bill Allred knows how to honor the earliest jazz and the finest in big band swing without sounding dated in any way. He did so with his eight-piece Classic Jazz Band Monday, March 9 in the Charlotte County Jazz Society's concert series in Port Charlotte FL.

Bill Allred

The Orlando-based octet is a high-energy outfit that knows how to make the music swing, and then some. "Let's get this party started," the leader said as the band launched into Duke Ellington's "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It Ain't Got That Swing)" before beginning a first-set examination of Louis Armstrong-associated New Orleans staples, then moving north to Memphis and Chicago, much as the music did in its formative decades.

Randy Morris

Allred described New Orleans' Storyville district, where jazz and ragtime were born, as "the first adult theme park" before pianist Randy Morris worked his way through a bit of Jelly Roll Morton ragtime. Trumpeter and singer Bobby Pickwood had very strong features on "West End Blues and "What a Wonderful World."

Bobby Pickwood

The second set focused on the big band era, coursing through material from Glenn Miller, Count Basie, Buddy Morrow, sneaking in a bit of the Ray Charles songbook with "Hard-Hearted Hannah" and Bob Crosby's Bobcats' "Big Noise from Winnetka" before winding down with a nod to Benny Goodman on "Sing, Sing, Sing."

This version of Allred's band also featured David MacKenzie on reeds, trumpeter Greg Little, trombonist Herb Bruce, bassist Jay Mueller and drummer Dick Maley. 

Allred's band, now in its 25th year, was last in Port Charlotte in December 2011. It was an ideal choice for the jazz society's 25th season, in a concert that drew 400+.

Morris, MacKenzie, Pickwood, Little, Mueller (partly hidden), Allred, Bruce, Maley.

Classic Jazz with good humor

Johnny Varro

Pianist Johnny Varro's Swing 7 concert at the Glenridge Performing Arts Center in Sarasota FL last night had a bit of holiday weekend humor - compliments of the leader.

Trad jazz and more from Sayer & Co.

Cynthia Sayer's Hot Jazz Trio

Banjo ace Cynthia Sayer performed to a sellout crowd Saturday at the Glenridge Performing Arts Center in Sarasota with her Hot Jazz Trio, featuring bassist Don Mopsick and trombonist Bill Allred.

Mat Domber - R.I.P.

Mat Domber

A true hero of classic jazz has left us. Arbors Records founder Mat Domber died yesterday (September 19) from cancer. He was 84.

In 1989, Domber, who was a lawyer, created Arbors and began recording classic jazz artists - from Dixieland to mainstream swing - who weren’t getting the attention they deserved. Over the next 20+ years, they found a welcome home on his Clearwater, Florida-based label. What began as a labor of love for Mat and his wife/business partner Rachel, and evolved into a significant force on the jazz scene. In many cases, Arbors was a career revivalist for many significant elder statesmen of jazz and a career nurturer for younger players who loved and felt most comfortable in the classic jazz style.