| Jim Cullum Jazz Band - Wednesday, September 30, 2009 7:30 p.m. |
They perform at the Landing on the Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas, on PRI (Public Radio International), and on the Real Jazz Channel 72 on Sirius Satellite Radio. Now join the Bakersfield Community Concert Association for an unforgettable evening of exceptional jazz by the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, America's premier 7-piece Classic Jazz ensemble, in their concert at Rabobank Theater. View the Jim Cullum's Landing page on Facebook. Preview their performance on youtube.com. Preview a Jim Cullum Jazz Band CD at CD Baby. The Jim Cullum Jazz Band are professional musicians known worldwide for their spirited commitment to the performance and celebration of classic jazz, bringing a lively sense of enthusiasm to this music they love, keeping it alive and growing as an art form and cultural tradition. They have over 45 recordings and can be heard weekly in over 200 cities across the country on the public radio series, Riverwalk Jazz, now
nearing its 20th season.
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band has a great time bringing the past into focus. This San Antonio-based group reinvigorates old favorites for contemporary audiences. Leader Jim Cullum plays a cornet similar to the one used by the legendary Bix Beiderbecke, and each band member is an expert in period instruments and performance. But this isn't a group stuck in the past—the band's distinctive, high-test style pours joyfully out of every number. With the Jim Cullum Jazz Band, the music is alive and definitely kicking.
San Antonio's Paseo del Rio is a riverside haven a few steps below the bustle of the city's busy downtown at street level. Stone walkways, bright flowers and ancient Crepe Myrtle trees line the river banks. Families of Mallard ducks splash in the water. And there's live jazz almost every night of the year at Jim Cullum's Landing on the River Walk. The historic jazz club is one of the first places to open on the San Antonio River over 40 years ago. On the patio of The Landing, small ensembles play for lunch and cocktails, and the seven-piece classic jazz band is on the main stage inside the club six nights a week. The Jim Cullum Jazz Band is this band.
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band has appeared in such major venues as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Wolf Trap, major worldwide jazz festivals, and stars in its own public radio series, Riverwalk Jazz, broadcasting since 1987, heard on over 150 Public Radio stations nationwide and on the internet.
The Jim Cullum Jazz Band plays jazz in the classic manner, that is, in the style of small, hot ensembles prior to WWII. The band's repertoire covers a lot of ground--from 19th-century cakewalks to the small pre-war Benny Goodman ensembles.
The core of the band's music consists of the sounds of Jelly Roll Morton, Original Dixieland Jazz Band, New Orleans Rhythm Kings, King Oliver Creole Jazz Band, Louis Armstrong, and Sidney Bechet, as well as a heavy emphasis on Bix Beiderbecke and Hoagy Carmichael. In keeping with the band's historical point of view, period instruments and performance practices are often used. Each member of the band is a specialist in historically informed jazz styles. Leader Jim Cullum plays a cornet (instead of the trumpet or flugelhorn used in modern jazz), which was the instrument preferred by early jazz masters King Oliver, Louis Armstrong and Bix Beiderbecke. Howard Elkins plays a 1920s-vintage Epiphone archtop 4-string tenor guitar and a 1935 Gibson tenor banjo. Don Mopsick plays an old German double bass set up with gut strings and high action in the manner of the pre-amplified era. Mike Waskiewicz uses drumming techniques and equipment more commonly found in the earlier drumming styles of Zutty Singleton, Ray Bauduc, and Baby Dodds. From 1993-2005, the Jim Cullum Jazz Band was on the faculty of the Stanford Summer Jazz Workshop. The Jim Cullum Jazz Band and the producers of Riverwalk Jazz, in partnership with the San Antonio YMCA are currently developing an after-school enrichment program for elementary school children called The Jim Cullum Video Curriculum. In April, 2007, the Jim Cullum Jazz Band completed an epic tour of Russia that took them from Moscow to eastern Siberia and back west to the Baltic Sea. They played 9 concerts in 17 days and covered 7 time zones. The Russian audiences were wildly enthusiastic in their applause and appreciation for the band's music. Welcome the Jim Cullum Jazz Band to Rabobank Theater for an evening of jazz you will long remember.
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