STAND BY FOR JAZZ!
Your SEMass jazz newsletter for April, 2008!
From Tin Pan Alley to the Rat Pack, there’s plenty to croon about at SEMass and Rhode Island jazz venues during the month of April.

The month kicks off with the 16th annual Early Spring Banjo Fling April 3-6 at the Mansfield Holiday Inn sponsored by the Stone Street Strummers Banjo Band.

Offerings include free nightly concerts plus workshops and virtually endless jam sessions throughout the weekend. This year’s headliner is Dave Marty, Frisco-based entertainer, recording artist and cruise line entertainer for more than 40 years. And last year's smash Cynthia Sayer, popular banjo-vocalist and veteran of Woody Allen's Dixieland jazz band, will be back for another appearance Friday evening, April 4.

SSS Prez Paul Poirier says this looks like the biggest year ever for the traditional, Dixieland and swing jazz event with record hotel room bookings, bus tour reservations and all around interest. Details: www.stonestreetstrummers.org.

In Taunton, Steve’s Backstage Pass—the Attleboro-Taunton area’s only weekly jazz showcase—is offering Sunday Night Jazz featuring saxman Adam Go on April 6, Andy Solberg April 13, Steve Caddick and Avalon April 20 and Swing 39 on April 27. All shows are 7 p.m. at the 15 School St., Taunton, cabaret with the exception of April 20 which will feature a come-one, come-all Great American Banjo Jam featuring tradjazz prior to headliners Avalon beginning at 6. Details: http://www.stevesbackstagepass.com/.

The Dixie Diehards Jazz Band will be appearing 2 p.m. Friday, April 4 at the Mansfield Holiday Inn as part of the aforementioned Early Spring Banjo Fling, as well as 7 p.m. April 26 at the Marion Art Center in –where else?—Marion Center. Consult: http://www.marionartcenter.com/.

We're also at the New England Folk Festival, the nation's oldet continuous folk festival, on April 27 at Mansfield High School in Mansfield, Ma.

Your personal SEMASS Jazz Calendar for April!

DATE
1 Tue 7-9:30pm Steve Taddeo's Swing Senders at the Sherborn Inn, 33 N. Main St. Sherborn MA $10.
2 Wed 8pm Jimmy Mazzy & The Last Minute Men - Traditional Jazz Band at the Colonial Inn, 48 Monument Square, Concord, MA (978) 369-9200

3-6 -- Stone Street Strummers' 16th Annual Early Spring Banjo Fling moves into Mansfield, MA at the Mansfield (MA) Holiday Inn with four days of free concerts, workshops, vendors and wall-to-wall jams. Tin Pan Alley to Dixieland and Swing with an international star cast plus regional bands. Festival headliner Dave Marty of San Francisco kicks off the first in a series of free public concerts along with sponsors The Stone Street Strummers 7 p.m. April 3. Details:www.stonestreetstrummers.org.

3 Thu 7-10:30pm Blue Horizon Five at Ma Glockner's 155 Maple St. Bellingham, MA 508.966.1085
4 Fri. 2-3 p.m. Dixie Diehards Jazz Band, Garden Court, Mansfield Holiday Inn. Part of the Early Spring Banjo Fling sponsored by the Stone Street Strummers. FREE
9:30pm-12:30am Dan Fox Quartet at Tosca, 14 North Street Hingham, MA 781-740-0080

5 Sat 7:30-11pm Leah Souza Trio at Stoneforge, 140 Warren Avenue, Plymouth.
TBA Jeff Maher, St. John’s Club, Rodman St., Fall River, Ma.
6 Sun. 7-9pm Adam Go, Quartetat Steve’s Backstage Pass, 15 School St., Taunton MA. Cover is $7
7 Mon 6-9pm Squirrel Hill Olde Tyme Band at the Dolphin Restaurant ~Dinner & Jazz2 Washington St. Natick Center.
12 Sat 6pm Ruth Pointer, of the Pointer Sisters at Milford Regional Medical Center Black Tie Fund Raiser, Melange: The Golden Age of Hollywood at The Grand Ballroom at Milford Town Hall • 52 Main Street • Milford, MA. Tickets $175pp at 508-422-2034.
12 Sat 6-11pm White Heat Swing Orchestra at The grand ballroom of the Four Points Sheraton, Route 6, Easton, MA. Benefit. Tickets are $50 per person and are available by contacting
13 Sun 2-4pm Fred Fried, Jazz Guitar Performance and Reception at Heritage Museums & Gardens, 67 Grove Street, at the junction of Pine and Grove Streets, Sandwich, MA 02563. Fees: $25 Members, $30 Non-Members.
13 Sun. 7-9 p.m. Andy Solberg and his quartet. Jazz standards with flair. Part of Sunday Night Jazz, Steve’s Backstage Pass, 15 School St., Taunton, Ma. 508-824-3436. $10.

15 Tue 7-9:30pm Blue Horizon Jazz Band at the Sherborn Inn, 33 N. Main St. Sherborn MA (508) 655-9521 $10 admission.
17 Thu Bay State Stompers at Ma Glockner's, 151 Maple St. Bellingham .
18 Fri 8:30pm-12:30am Leah Souza Trio at Radisson Plymouth Harbor hotel, 180 Water Street Plymouth, MA .
TBA Andy Solberg and Marshall Wood, Wetherlaine’s, 350 River St., Woonsocket, R.I.
19 Sat 8pm Ron Della Chiesa to Host Strictly Sinatra Music America Rat Pack Dance Parties at Raffael’s Banquet /Conference Facility, Route 1A, Walpole, MA 8 P.M
8:30pm-12:30am Leah Souza Trio at Radisson Plymouth Harbor hotel, 180 Water Street Plymouth, MA 19 Sat 9:30pm-12:30am Dan Fox Quartet at Tosca, 14 North Street Hingham, MA 781-740-0080
TBA Jeff Maher, Pottersville Pub, Somerset, Ma.
20 Sun. 6-9 p.m. Avalon trio with banjoist Steve Caddick. Traditional and Tin Pan Alley jazz. Preceded by the Great American Banjo Jam. Traditional jazz and pop music open jam (come one, come all!) 6-7:30; Avalon at 7:30. Steve’s Backstage Pass, 15 School St., Taunton, Ma. 508-824-3436. $6.
22 Tue 7-9:30pm Black Eagle Jazz Band at the Sherborn Inn, 33 N. Main St. Sherborn MA (508) 655-9521 $10 admission .
26 Sat. 7 p.m Dixie Diehards Jazz Band, Marion Art Center, Main and Pleasant Streets, Marion, Ma. http://www.marionartcenter.com/.
TBA Jeff Maher, Mickey Doyle’s Pub, Fall River.

27 Sun 7-9 p.m. Swing 39, Louisville, Ky.-based swing trio, renders the jazz style of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grapelli. With special guests No Strings Attached. Steve’s Backstage Pass, 15 School St., Taunton, Ma. 508-824-3436. $8.
29 Tue 7-9:30pm Swing Times Five at the Sherborn Inn, 33 N. Main St. Sherborn MA (508) 655-9521 $10 admission.

GRASSROOTS JAZZ PROFILE

Banjo Jazzer Dave Marty is 'Mr. Smooth'

Whether entertaining on luxury cruise liners or appearing before convention audiences, California banjoman extraordinaire Dave Marty's nickname is "Mr. Smooth."

Marty, whose virtuosity as a performer and recording artist spans nearly a half century, will be the main headliner for this year’s Early Spring Banjo Fling April 3-6 at the Mansfield Holiday Inn. The event, which includes dozens of bands and solo performers playing everything from early 20th Century popular music to traditional and Dixieland jazz, is staged annually by the Stone Street Strummers Banjo Band.
Music captured the young Marty’s imagination almost from the start. From the age of 12, he had already begun teaching himself ukulele before eventually asking his father for something a little bigger. Marty actually had a guitar in mind, but for his 16th birthday, his dad surprised him with – of all things—a banjo.
He had trouble at first adjusting to the banjo’s long neck, and put the instrument aside for the next three years until he happened to hear a banjo player in a trio in a local pizza parlor.
“After hearing a couple of tunes, I decided I was as good as or better than the banjo player, and he was making money doing that,” said Marty. “Then and there I knew what I wanted to do with my life.”
Before long, Marty had resurrected the banjo, joined the musician’s union and got his first professional job – also in a pizza parlor. He’s been playing ever since: 48 years in all.
Marty’s career began in beer halls and restaurants, but he soon branched out to night clubs in San Francisco, Chicago, New Orleans and New York City, not to mention Florence, Italy and the New York World’s Fair.
Together with David Sturdevant on guitar and Abe van der Meulen on side banjo, Marty formed the San Francisco Medicine Ball Band in 1970, recording an LP “On a Slow Boat to China” in 1976. Marty went on to record several other albums and spent 17 years as a featured performer on major cruise lines.
Marty revels in a wide variety of musical forms, from classical to Dixieland and traditional jazz along with music from the big band era. But the uniqueness of the banjo lays the strongest claim to his heart.
“Musically, the banjo tugs at the American heart because of the sound derived from the instrument; it is unlike any other American musical instrument and can be a happy one,” said Marty. “Culturally, the banjo is a big part of very early American popular music and dixieland jazz and country & western music. Furthermore, music played on the banjo stirs up many memories, particularly for senior citizens.”
Marty will perform several times throughout this year’s Spring Fling beginning with a guest appearance with the Stone Street Strummers Banjo Band 7: p.m. Thursday, April 3, in a celebration of the Tin Pan Alley era of American Music, and the annual Headliner concert 7:30 p.m. Saturday, April 5 at the hotel.
For more information on the Early Spring Banjo Fling, visit www.stonestreetstrummers.org.