Jazz Review : Familiar Tunes of Past Keep Toes Tapping at Festival

Straw hats and Bermuda shorts, frilly dresses and New Orleans parasols, jitterbugging and Lindy Hopping. What could possibly generate such a display from an audience largely dominated by happy seniors? What else but the Sweet & Hot Music Festival, the annual celebration of the pre-’50s era in which jazz, swing and pop music were indivisible.

And the audience was out in force for the four-day festival, which continues through today at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott, filling the halls, ballrooms and conference rooms. Performances are taking place simultaneously in no fewer than eight venues, with occasional performances in “instant” locations at the festival’s whim. For the fans of Dixieland, New Orleans, Trad and swing--with a few surreptitious traces of bebop sneaking in here and there for good measure--the event is a cornucopia of music.

Friday’s and Saturday’s sessions provided a nonstop flow of music illustrating the omnivorous diversity of the programs. Singer-pianist Yve Evans, a consummate entertainer, celebrated Duke Ellington in her inimitable style, blending musical know-how with a quick wit and a talent for storytelling. In later appearances, Evans expanded her musical palette even further, not hesitating to mix a rhapsodic jazz ballad with a group sing-along on the chestnut, “Don’t Fence Me In.”

A tribute to Benny Goodman featured the too-little appreciated clarinetist Abe Most playing items so well known to the crowd that the first few notes of each tune generated instant applause. Like Evans, Most is also a humorist, and the presence of his brother, flutist Sam Most, afforded the perfect target for his good-natured jibes.

A salute to the late Wild Bill Davison recapitulated many of the favorites associated with the cornetist’s robust style, with friend and trumpeter Tom Saunders tossing in a stream of often-whimsical reminiscences. Interestingly, however, here as elsewhere at the festival, an unexpected moment of magic occurred when clarinetist Chuck Hedges--present because of his former association with Davison--played a stunningly creative set of choruses on the old jazz standard, “Chinatown, My Chinatown.”

Other highlights were numerous: additional tributes to Pete Fountain and Louis Armstrong; offbeat bands such as the Rhythm Rascals from Orlando, who romped through a set of old-timey hits featuring banjo, washboard, whistling and a rare opportunity to hear the C-melody saxophone--a favorite of the ‘20s, but now virtually nonexistent in popular music; Banu Gibson, the singing darling of the Swing revivalists, offered an animated group of tunes ranging from “Too Marvelous” and “I’ve Got a Feeling You’re Fooling” to a medley from the show “Blackbirds of 1928.”

Some of the gems from the smaller venues included a well-crafted guitar set from the duo of Barry Zweig and Doug MacDonald, a gorgeous rendering of tunes associated with Maxine Sullivan by the superb singer-guitarist Rebecca Kilgore, an appearance by the Japanese New Orleans-style ensemble Yoshio Toyama & The Saints, and a stirring acknowledgment of urban blues by the group Pieces of Eight.

Trumpeter Jack Sheldon, far closer to bebop than swing, and funny enough to have a career as a stand-up comedian, was full of musical vim and vigor in his all-star set. Spotting veteran singer Herb Jeffries in the audience, Sheldon invited him up to sing his classic “Flamingo.” (“I’ve been doing this song so long,” joked the 87-year-old Jeffries, “that I stand on one leg when I sing it.”)

This sort of amiable blend of recollection and personal interaction was a constant, especially potent because audience members were so familiar with many of the players. Dating from an era in which swing music fans knew the names, histories and personal preferences of musicians in the top bands--at least as intimately as rock era fans have known their favorites--festival attendees were eager to make contact.

If there was a problem in this otherwise well-executed, musically attractive event, it was the paucity of African American performers and attendees--startling for a festival dedicated to jazz, and a factor that should be addressed in future productions.

* Sweet & Hot Music Festival at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott Hotel, 5855 W. Century Blvd. (310) 641-5700. Today, 11 a.m.